Joseph Puder

Safe spaces <a href="https://www.gwhatchet.com/2022/06/27/thousands-sign-petition-calling-for-supreme-court-justices-removal-from-gw-law-faculty/">wanted</a>.

<blockquote>
	
		More than 3,600 people have signed a&nbsp;petition&nbsp;calling on GW to remove Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas from his role as a professorial lecturer in law at GW Law after he voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. Thomas has&nbsp;lectured&nbsp;at GW Law since 2011, co-teaching a constitutional law seminar with his former clerk Gregory Maggs, and is set to&nbsp;teach&nbsp;that course again in the Fall 2022 semester, according to GW Law’s course catalog.
</blockquote>


	Good luck with that. Even at GWU which has bent over backward in bowing to wokeness.

<blockquote>
	
		“With his explicit intention to further strip the rights of queer people and remove the ability for people to practice safe sex without fear of pregnancy, it is evident that the employment of Clarence Thomas at George Washington University is completely unacceptable,” the petition states.
</blockquote>


	If you guessed that the petition was created by an obnoxious white woke philosophy major, you win something. I don't know what. Possibly having to read his petition.

<blockquote>
	
		Jon Kay, a rising junior majoring in international affairs and philosophy, made the petition Sunday afternoon after learning of Thomas’ position at GW Law. He said he started the petition because he felt Thomas’ position on the right to an abortion, as well as his signaling of reconsiderations of Obergefell v. Hobbes and Lawrence v. Texas, which respectively outlawed bans against same-sex marriage and sodomy, threatened students.

	
		“I think that it’s unacceptable that he’s on campus because this decision and then the three decisions that he’s actively going after explicitly are actively endangering the lives of the students on campus,” Kay said.
</blockquote>


	Unsafe, unsafe! A black man is making Jon Kay feel unsafe.


	The full petition states that the Supreme Court has "has stripped the right to bodily autonomy of people with wombs" and claims that "it is evident that the employment of Clarence Thomas at George Washington University is completely unacceptable" who, according to Kay, "is actively making life unsafe for thousands of students on our campus".


	Only a white philosophy student can save "people with bombs" from the only black male justice on the Supreme Court.

White Student Claims Justice Clarence Thomas Teaching at GWU Makes Him "Unsafe"

Safe spaces wanted.


	
		More than 3,600 people have signed a&nbsp;petition&nbsp;calling on GW to remove Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas

White Student Claims Justice Clarence Thomas Teaching at GWU Makes Him "Unsafe"

This is <a href="https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/its-what-beijings-party-boss-may-not-have-said-that-shows-zero-covid-fatigue-11656342243">going well</a>.

<blockquote>
	
		Beijing’s top official reportedly pledged five more years of “unwaveringly” sticking to&nbsp;China’s zero-Covid policies, state-run media said Monday, before swiftly removing the reference to how much longer the capital must live with pandemic controls...

	
		Beijing Daily gave no explanation for why it removed the five-year reference from the article, and the phrase couldn’t be heard on a video recording of Communist Party Secretary of Beijing Cai Qi’s speech.
</blockquote>


	It's the 5-year-plan.&nbsp;

<blockquote>
	
		&nbsp;Before the words could be cut from the text version, China’s internet users posted a flood of tearful emojis and memes expressing&nbsp;their emotional exhaustion with the Covid controls&nbsp;that have become a fixture of everyday life.
</blockquote>


	The fun <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/27/asia/china-zero-covid-policy-intl/index.html">never stops </a>under Communist rule.

<blockquote>
	
		The pandemic controls that would stay in place include routine PCR tests, strict entry rules, regular health checks in residential neighborhoods and public venues, as well as rigorous monitoring and testing for people entering and leaving Beijing, state media quoted Cai as saying.

	
		“I have to rethink whether I should continue to stay in Beijing in the long term,” one user wrote on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform.

	
		“For the next five years…what is the point of being alive even,” another user said.

	
		Weibo has since banned the hashtag “for the next five years” from its platform.
</blockquote>


	That's bound to reassure everyone. Especially as the public health regime becomes a blank check for political control.

<blockquote>
	
		China’s continued use of such pervasive, technology-based social controls comes amid growing concern that they are both here to stay and are prone to abuse. In one recent example, officials in the central city of Zhengzhou switched the health codes of more than a thousand bank customers to color red—indicating high risk related to Covid-19 infections—to stop them joining protests&nbsp;over four rural banks in the region accused of financial misconduct.

	
		One of the would-be protesters, Ye Mijian, said that when he tried to leave the Zhengzhou train station, his green code switched to red and he was confined to a hotel.
</blockquote>


	Good thing that could never happen in America. 
	&nbsp;

China Announces 5 More Years of COVID Terror, Then Bans Mention of It

This is going well.


	
		Beijing’s top official reportedly pledged five more years of “unwaveringly” sticking to&nbsp;China’s zero-Covid policies, state-

China Announces 5 More Years of COVID Terror, Then Bans Mention of It

It certainly didn't take that long for America to go from record-low crime rates to reliving the worst of the seventies. And that means this kind of thing is <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/amid-attacks-thefts-retail-workers-174956439.html">normal now</a>.

<blockquote>
	
		In her 37 years in the grocery industry, said Kim Cordova, a union president in Colorado, she had never experienced the level of violence that her members face today.

	
		So when she was negotiating contracts for 21,000 grocery workers in Colorado this past winter, the usual issues of wages and scheduling were certainly on the table. But just as critical, if not more so, was safety.

	
		“What happened with COVID?” said Cordova, president of Local 7 of the United Food and Commercial Workers. “People have changed. Sometimes I wonder if I am living in a Netflix movie. This can’t be real.”

	
		The union negotiated a contract that ensures workers have the right to defend themselves if a customer attacks them.&nbsp;
</blockquote>


	This isn't "COVID". This is pro-crime policies, spurred on by Black Lives Matter race riots, which set loose countless criminals from prison and refused to arrest criminals on the loose, and effectively legalized all sorts of crimes.


	The collapse of the criminal justice system has <a href="https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/downtown-denver-business-owner-to-charge-1-fee-to-recover-shoplifting-losses">emboldened criminals</a>.

<blockquote>
	
		A Downtown Denver business owner says shoplifting at his stores has gotten so bad he's having to charge customers a fee to make up the costs.

	
		"[It's called the] Denver Crime Spike Fee, and so that'll be a 1% transaction fee for all of the items that are purchased in our stores," Derek Friedman, owner of several Sportsfan and Sock Em Sock Emporium locations in the Denver metro, said Sunday.

	
		Since 2019, he says shoplifting at his downtown and Federal Boulevard stores has tripled.
</blockquote>


	The New York Times remains baffled by what's causing "people" to commit violence in stores.

<blockquote>
	
		According to a New York Times analysis of FBI assault data, the number of assaults in many retail establishments has been increasing at a faster pace than the national average.

	
		From 2018 to 2020, assaults reported to the FBI by law enforcement agencies overall rose 42%; they increased 63% in grocery stores and 75% in convenience stores.
</blockquote>


	&nbsp;It's a mystery.

<blockquote>
	
		Still, some politicians have seized on viral videos of brazen shoplifting to portray left-leaning city leaders as soft on crime. Others have accused the industry of grossly exaggerating losses and warned that the thefts were being used as a pretext to roll back criminal justice reforms.
</blockquote>


	The criminal justice reforms will continue until grocery workers are all armed.

<blockquote>
	
		“These criminals feel like they own the store,” said Tony Settles, a clerk at a Safeway in downtown Denver. “The No. 1 thing that can fix this is accountability.”

	
		She thinks the hands-off approach to shoplifting is leading to a broader breakdown. Kyong Barry, 59, who has been working in the grocery industry for more than 20 years and is a member of UFCW Local 3000, said she had recently noticed that regular customers were walking out the door without paying for items.

	
		“It’s like a disease,” she said. “When there are no consequences, some people think: Why should I pay if others are not?”
</blockquote>


	It's the socialist disease.

Retail Workers Union Wins Right to Fight Back Against Violent Shoplifters

It certainly didn't take that long for America to go from record-low crime rates to reliving the worst of the seventies. And that means this kind of thing is

Retail Workers Union Wins Right to Fight Back Against Violent Shoplifters

There's a legal doctrine known as "attractive nuisance".&nbsp;


	America is a massive attractive nuisance. It draws massive numbers of illegal alien migrants. Many of them are raped, beaten and even die trying to make it across the border so they can benefit from sanctuary cities and states.


	And the welfare state.


	Biden's decision to dismantle border enforcement and welcome in illegal aliens leads to death. Like these <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/san-antonio-migrants-texas-tractor-trailer-dead-injured/">51 deaths</a>.&nbsp;

<blockquote>
	
		At least 51 migrants died after they were abandoned in the back of a tractor-trailer that was discovered Monday in San Antonio, officials said Tuesday. More than a dozen others were taken to local hospitals with heat-related injuries.
</blockquote>


	Biden has a statement explaining why, as usual, it's not his fault.&nbsp;

<blockquote>
	
		The tragic loss of life in San Antonio, Texas that took place yesterday is horrifying and heartbreaking.&nbsp; Our prayers are with those who lost their lives, their loved ones, as well as those still fighting for their lives. As always, I am grateful for the swift work of all of the Federal, state, and local first responders.

	
		While we are still learning all the facts about what happened and the Department of Homeland Security has the lead for the investigation, initial reports are that this tragedy was caused by smugglers or human traffickers who have no regard for the lives they endanger and exploit to make a profit.
</blockquote>


	Much as Biden's party has no regard for the lives it endangers to get cheap votes.&nbsp;


	The smugglers are responding to incentives and conditions created by the Biden administration intended to make it easy for illegal aliens to come here and stay here.


	Biden did this.

Biden Blames "Smugglers" for Deaths of 51 Illegal Aliens Drawn By His Open Border

There's a legal doctrine known as "attractive nuisance".&nbsp;


	America is a massive attractive nuisance. It draws massive numbers of illegal alien

Biden Blames "Smugglers" for Deaths of 51 Illegal Aliens Drawn By His Open Border

Truly, <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-releases-footage-showing-israeli-captive-hooked-up-to-oxygen/">this is the</a> religion of peace.

<blockquote>
	
		The Hamas terror group on Tuesday published a video showing Hisham al-Sayed, one of two Israeli men being held by the terror group in the Gaza Strip, in poor medical condition — the first image of the hostage seen in years.

	
		In the video, al-Sayed can be seen hooked up to an oxygen mask. The footage was undated, but it appears to have been recent, as a conference streaming on Al Jazeera’s Arabic channel seen behind the Israeli hostage took place on June 21.
</blockquote>


	What else would Hamas be watching but Al Jazeera?


	Hisham al-Sayed is a Muslim Bedouin man with mental issues who crossed into that part of Israel controlled by Hamas. That was in 2015. The Islamic terror group, unable to get at any Israelis, has been holding him hostage ever since.

<blockquote>
	
		Hamas’s military wing had claimed on Monday night that “the health of one of its Israeli prisoners has deteriorated,” after years in which repeated attempts to reach a prisoner exchange deal between the two sides have hit dead ends.
</blockquote>


	The "Israeli" is a fellow Muslim. Not that it's ever stopped Muslim terrorists.

<blockquote>
	
		“This is the first time I see his face in seven years. It helped put us at ease. He used to take medications and I hope they give him them,” his father Sha’aban al-Sayed told Channel 12.

	
		He appealed to Hamas, saying: “Release him immediately. He’s sick and needs medical care at all times.”
</blockquote>


	Hamas keeps demanding the release of its imprisoned terrorists. But its trump card at the moment is holding one of its own people hostage and hoping that Israel ransoms him before he dies.

Hamas Vows to Continue Holding Mentally Ill Muslim Man Hostage

Truly, this is the religion of peace.


	
		The Hamas terror group on Tuesday published a video showing Hisham al-Sayed, one of two Israeli men being held

Hamas Vows to Continue Holding Mentally Ill Muslim Man Hostage

Naftali Bennett’s press conference on Monday, June 20, 2022, with Yair Lapid at his side was not quite as dramatic as portrayed by the Israeli media. The coalition government Bennett and Lapid wove together was fragile from the very beginning. It was never an organic body. Instead, it was a combination of left-wing parties such as Meretz led by Nitzan Horowitz, and center-left Labor party led by Mirav Micahaeli, the centrist parties of Lapid’s Yish Atid and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party, the center-right parties of Bennett’s Yamina, Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope, and Avigdor Lieberman’s Israel Our Home. In addition, the Islamist Arab party Ra’am, led by Mansour Abbas gave the coalition its 61 needed votes. Issues of national security were always problematic because of Ra’am’s objections, as well as Arab Knesset Member Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi of Meretz. The coalition was therefore always on borrowed time.


	At the Knesset’s press conference in Jerusalem Hall, Prime Minister Bennett hailed his government’s achievements in its year-long existence. He blamed the failure to pass the Judea and Samaria regulations law on the need to go back to the voters by dissolving the Knesset (Israel’s parliament). This will be the 5th election in Israel in less than four years.


	A glum Prime Minister Bennett didn’t imagine the demise of his coalition government after one year. Moreover, he never thought that the end would come by the desertion of members of his own Yamina party. It began almost immediately after the government was formed, when Yamina Knesset Member Amichai Chikli refused to vote with the coalition. A few months ago it was Idit Silman who resigned her committee chairmanship, and abstained from supporting the coalition. Last week it came down to Nir Orback, a former stalwart Bennett ally, who could no longer support the coalition. Abir Kara, another Yamina MK was also on his way out. In the end, the only loyal Yamina MK at Bennett’s side was Matan Kahana, who served briefly as Minister of Religious Affairs. Ayelet Shaked, the Interior Minister, and Bennett’s perennial partner in forming the Yamina party, was only notified on Bennett’s decision to go to elections by phone, while she was on a state visit to Morocco. Bennett’s final act to dissolve the coalition and call for elections was a way of avenging his party members’ desertion. Once the Knesset is dissolved, elections are tentatively scheduled for November 1, 2022.


	Bennett’s ostensible sense of defeat came after the Judea and Samaria regulations law was not passed. Under Israeli law, the bill provides protection for Israelis living in Judea and Samaria. With his political base being among the settlers of Judea and Samaria, his inability to pass the extension of this law pretty much sealed his political future.


	With Lapid taking over as the interim Prime Minister until the elections, and Bennett being out of a government portfolio, Lapid it appears, would entrust Bennett with the Iran file, at least until the elections. Should Lapid form the next coalition government, it is more than likely that he will insure a spot on his party list for Bennett, and perhaps a major portfolio.


	For Bennett, a former successful high-tech entrepreneur, money was never his primary objective. He sought public office because he believed in his ability to contribute to Israel’s prosperity and peace. He has essentially fulfilled his highest ambition in becoming prime minister, albeit, for only a year. At the age of 50, Naftali Bennett is still a young man, and is unlikely to retire or go back to the business world. But his political future will no longer be with a center-right party. He has alienated too many of his longtime constituents, and while he gave Lapid a chance to become prime minister (although for a very short term) who otherwise would be unlikely to attain that post, Bennett is still hopeful that he can play a major role in Israel’s national politics. Having served as Minister of Defense and Minister of Education, I wouldn’t be wrong to guess that Foreign Minister would be his next quest.


	In terms of his record in the office of prime minister, Bennett doesn’t leave “scorched earth.” True, he failed to bring down the cost of living, primarily the cost of housing and food. His leadership was less than impressive since he had to contend with larger egos the likes of Lapid and Gantz, who essentially ran their ministries (Foreign and Defense) independently. However, when it came to the big issues pertaining to Iran, and deepening relations with the Gulf States and Egypt, he did rather well. Bennett stood firm on his/Israel’s principles in dealing with the US. He kept Hamas and Hezbollah quiet, and he scored good marks in his mediation between Ukraine’s President Zelensky, and Russia’s Putin. He leaves Israel’s economy in fairly good shape, with full employment and lower deficits. While inflation is creeping up in Israel, it is still lower than in the US. But he missed out on effectively tackling the Omicron wave in Israel.


	Opposition leader, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seemed to be elated with the demise of the coalition government. He stressed its shortcomings including among other things the lack of personal safety, and the absence of national pride. He promised to form a “wide” government, led by the Likud, and bring back national pride as well as sign more normalization deals with Arab states. Netanyahu also insisted that he will not sit in a government with the Islamist Ra’am party.


	A poll by Kan-News-TV and the Kantar Institute, asking who is the most qualified person to serve as Prime Minister, gave Netanyahu 48%, while Lapid scored only 31%. Still, Netanyahu would rather delay the dissolution of the Knesset for at least ten days, in the hope of forming an alternate right-wing coalition government led by him.


	The same poll conducted a day after Bennett’s announcement of dissolving the Knesset, asked which party you would vote for if elections were held “today?” Netanyahu’s Likud party got 36 seats in the 120 seat Knesset, a gain of 6 seats from the current 30. Lapid’s Yesh Atid party received 21 seats, adding 3; Gantz’s Blue and White with 9 seats, showed a gain of 1 seat; Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party got 9 seats, a gain of 3 (part of Netanyahu’s bloc). Deri’s Sephardic Orthodox Shas party with 8 seats, lost 1 (part of Netanyahu’s bloc); Gafni’s Torah Judaism with 7 seats, stayed the same (also part of the Netanyahu’s bloc); Odeh’s Arab Joint List with 6 seats stayed the same. Michaeli’s Labor party with 6 seats lost 1; Bennett’s Yamina party with 5 seats, lost 2; Lieberman’s Israel Our Home party, at 5 seats, lost 2. Sa’ar’s New Hope party barely passed the electoral threshold with 4 seats, losing 2, and Mansour Abbas’ Islamist Ra’am party stayed the same with 4 seats. Horowitz’s Meretz party didn’t pass the threshold. This means that the Netanyahu’s bloc garnered 60 seats vs. 54 seats of the Lapid/Bennett bloc. Should Netanyahu be able to recruit one defector from Yamina or New Hope, he could once again become prime minister.


	A fifth election is detrimental to Israel’s national security, and its economy. Numerous vital bills in the Knesset will be delayed. Israel needs a stable government that only a national unity government can provide.

Israel Headed to its 5th Election

Naftali Bennett’s press conference on Monday, June 20, 2022, with Yair Lapid at his side was not quite as dramatic as portrayed by the Israeli media. The

Fifty-five years ago this month, has to be registered as one of the most glorious times in the annals of Jewish history. It was the Six Day War, which began on June 5, 1967. Less than a week later, the war was over. The Arab states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria were defeated. Military contingents from Iraq, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia suffered high casualties. Egypt lost the entire Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. Jordan, which illegally annexed the Old City of Jerusalem and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) in the aftermath of the 1948 war, lost these territories now. The Damascus regime used the strategic Golan Heights to shell Israeli kibbutzim along the Sea of Galilee, targeting Israeli farmers, and now the Golan Heights was in Israeli hands. Israel was transformed overnight territorially but more significantly in terms of the national mood. The country turned from gloom and doom that preceded the war to euphoria and exultation. God, once again, performed a miracle for his people.


	Yet, along with the glory of the occasion came the consequences of the incredible Israeli victory. A new reality emerged that would spawn an age of terror and instability. The Six Day War gave rise to unforeseen developments, including the creation of “Palestinianism.” The shock felt in the Arab world in the aftermath of the Six Day War, and the extent of the Arab defeat by the “despised and weak Jews,” was deeply humiliating to the Arab mind. It expedited the demise of “Nasserism,” pan-Arabism, and Arab nationalism, as the prevailing ideologies in the Arab world. The war discredited the secular Arab governments and contributed to the rise of political Islam.


	Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Egyptian dictator and the hero of the Arab masses, who boasted in May 1967, of “liquidating the Zionist menace,” suffered a personal humiliating defeat. He tried to salvage his reputation by blaming the Arab defeat on the intervention of America and Britain on behalf of Israel, an outright lie. But he could not take back the lies he told to King Hussein and the Egyptian people about victories in the battlefield against the Israelis, and that his air force was attacking Israeli targets. Following the Six Day War the Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza were henceforth responsible to chart their own destiny…


	Prior to the Six Day War, West Bank and Gaza Arab identities were not known as Palestinians. The term Palestinian, was adopted only after Israel took control of these areas. West Bank and Gaza Arabs were previously Jordanians and Egyptians, respectively. The Arab world lost hope in its armies’ capabilities to destroy the Jewish state and recover Palestine for the Arab cause. For Anwar Sadat, who replaced Nasser as Egypt’s president in 1970, recovering the lost Sinai Peninsula was the principle reason for the Yom Kippur War. Egypt’s intent in the October 1973 war was not to destroy Israel, but to regain Arab pride. Eventually Sadat made peace with Israel because he realized that Israel was not removable. That is perhaps one of the major legacies of the Six Day War.


	Recovering Palestine after the Six Day War was consigned to the Arabs of Palestine. To legitimize their struggle against Israel, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), operating outside Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, needed to invent a narrative that would provide them with justification for claiming the land, and replacing Israel. So, in order to give substance to the idea of “Palestinianism”, and their claim to historical Palestine, they asserted that they were descendants of the ancient Canaanites. A preposterous assertion since most Arabs who lived in Palestine migrated from other Arab lands, and many settled there during the Muslim conquest of the land by the Caliph Omar in 637CE. Some Arab Palestinians have asserted that the Jebusites were their forefathers despite the absence of any credible scholastic evidence. Clearly in using such fabricated claims, they hoped to convince the international community that Israel and Jerusalem “rightfully” belonged to them.


	King David made Jerusalem his capitol; hence, it was called the City of David. His son Solomon built the Holy Temple there. In the Bible, the name Zion is used to refer to the city of Jerusalem, and it is the source of the term Zionism, which is the Jewish national liberation movement established in the late 19th Century and led by Theodore Herzl. The connotation of the name expresses the millenniums of yearning by Jews to return to Zion – Jerusalem, following the exile of the Jews from the Land of Israel by the Romans in 70 CE.


	In order to establish their legitimacy over the Land of Israel, and erase the historical Jewish presence there, Arabs have deliberately destroyed archeological artifacts dating back to biblical times; in the process they also destroyed artifacts from the Canaanite period. The Arab Palestinian leadership’s habitual denial of history is inimical to peacemaking with Israel. To be specific, Palestinian public discourse claims that the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem never existed. They refuse to acknowledge, let alone tolerate the universally accepted history of the city of Jerusalem, and the rest of the country.


	Although the Arabs of Palestine speak the same Arabic language as their neighboring Arab states, share the same religion - Sunni Islam, and are part of the same culture, after June 10, 1967, they suddenly discovered their allegedly distinct “Palestinianism.” They demanded henceforth, that the Arab states recognize them as such. The Arab states were very happy to comply, and rid themselves of the Palestine burden. Some Arab states such as Iraq and Syria used the Arab Palestinians as a terror vehicle against Israel. It is safe to say that without the Six Day War, there would not have been “Palestinianism.” West Bank Arabs would have remained Jordanians, and Gazan Arabs Egyptians.


	One major result of the War was that the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 242, also known as “land for peace.” It was a departure from previous cases in which Israel withdrew from territory it captured, as was the case of the 1956 Sinai Campaign, when Israel gave the Egyptians land (all of the Sinai) without getting peace. Similarly, in 1949, Israeli forces withdrew from the Sinai without receiving even recognition from Cairo. Israeli historian Benny Morris has written that, “<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.opinion/editorials/ct-israel-six-day-50-edit-0605-md-20170604-story.html">The Israelis at last had something they could give the Arabs in exchange for peace</a>.”


	Finally, following the Six Day War, the US recognized Israel’s value as a strategic partner. It led to an American Middle East policy that centered on containing the Soviet Union in the region, assuring the flow of oil at reasonable prices, and protecting Israel. With French President Charles De Gaulle imposing an arms embargo on Israel soon after the war (arms Israel already paid for), the US became Israel’s main arms supplier. Britain withdrew from the region in the 1960’s, creating a vacuum, which the US ultimately filled with the help of a reliable Israel.


	There is still some distance between Israel’s incredible victory in the Six Day War and a comprehensive peace. Nevertheless, the Six Day War planted the seeds for the current peace with six Arab states.

55 Years Ago: The 6-Day War and its Consequences

Fifty-five years ago this month, has to be registered as one of the most glorious times in the annals of Jewish history. It was the Six Day War, which began on

Ever since the signing of the Abraham Accords in September 2020, the prevailing question was “would Saudi Arabia be next.” It appears now that things are moving in the right direction, and a deal might be struck that will bring the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel closer, if not to outright normalization and diplomatic relations.


	As the guardians of the two holiest Islamic shrines in the cities of Mecca and Medina, the Saudis have felt compelled to back the Palestinian cause. Publicly, Riyadh already declared in 2002 that normalization with Israel was dependent on progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Riyadh did however acknowledged, albeit quietly, the fact that Palestinian intransigence, and its refusal to consider the Trump “Deal of the Century,” is largely responsible for the lack of progress in the peace process.


	The 36-year old Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS), who has become the effective ruler of Saudi Arabia, has diminished the power of the Wahhabi Muslim religious establishment, and has allowed Saudi women to drive, thus scoring him points with the young people. These same young people (under 30) who are now the majority population in the Kingdom have in a recent official survey, strongly favored normalization with Israel.


	While open relations with Israelis are still not approved, secret meetings between Israel and Saudi top officials have taken place under the radar. It has been reported that in November 2020, Prime Minister <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/23/benjamin-netanyahu-secret-meeting-saudi-crown-prince-moham">Netanyahu made an unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia</a> to meet with crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The Saudis, especially the younger generation, view Israel as both a technological and military power that could help in checking Iran’s malevolent activities in the region. They have observed the economic benefits the United Arab Emirates has derived from peace with Israel, and desire the same. Young Saudis covet Israeli technology and Israel’s open society. MBS is also cognizant of Israel’s technological and military advancements. Israel, for its part, understands that peace with Riyadh will open the door for Israel to virtually the entire Sunni Muslim world. Moreover, Saudi petrodollars could be a major source of investment in Israeli technology.


	Currently, a three way deal is under way between Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the US. Hopes are that it would lead to normalization in the relations between Riyadh and Jerusalem. The deal being worked out by Washington would open Saudi airspace to all Israeli flights. The deal is expected to significantly shorten flight times between Israel and destinations in the Far East, as well as reduce flight prices. In exchange, Israel would give a “green light” to the transfer of the tiny but strategically significant islands in the Red Sea named Tiran and Sanafir, from Egypt to Saudi Arabia. Since the islands were returned to Egypt as part of the peace agreement with Israel, the treaty signed at Camp David in 1979 requires Israeli approval for their transfer to a third country. Egypt seeks financial aid from the Saudis as part of the deal.


	The US part of the deal involves ending the boycott of MBS who is accused of murdering the sometime journalist for the Washington Post, Jamal Khashoggi. In return, the Biden administration would ask the Saudis to increase its oil production to ease the economic burdens of US drivers at the gas pumps. For President Joe Biden, who has shunned MBS, and alienated the Saudis over dropping the Houthis, the Yemeni proxies of Iran, from the list of terrorist organizations, is now having to eat “humble pie.” The western sanctions against Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, and the boycotting of Russian energy supplies has created a global energy crisis, which impacts on American consumers. With the November elections looming large on Biden’s mind, inflation and gas prices skyrocketing, low approvals, and projected losses to Republicans are compelling Biden to travel to Israel, but Riyadh is certainly his ostensible target. Biden’s expected visit to Israel is meant to galvanize the Democratic Party Jewish donors and voters who are a significant part of the party’s base.


	Both the Obama and Biden administrations, in their efforts to realign US foreign policy in the region, have made upgrading relations with Iran’s Islamic Republic a major objective, and focus on renewing the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA). In the process, they have criticized Saudi Arabia for its human rights record, and minimizing Iran’s massive human right abuses. According to the New York Times, US Democratic Party House members have appealed to President Biden to focus on the following issues with the Saudis: global oil markets, the war in Yemen, the detention of human rights activists, the investigation of Khashoggi’s killing, efforts to acquire civil nuclear technology, and military cooperation with China.


	Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, at the Davos Economic Forum last week, repeated the old Saudi mantra about diplomatic relations with Israel not being on the immediate horizon. He stated that “We have always seen normalization as an end result for a path to <a href="https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-708431">peace with the Palestinians</a>.” Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid also minimized expectations, saying, “<a href="https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-708431">Normalization with Saudi Arabia will happen with baby steps</a>.” Also last week US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pointed out that, “Saudi Arabia is a critical partner in dealing with extremism in the region, in dealing with the challenges posed by Iran, and also I hope in continuing the process of building relationships between Israel and its neighbors both near and further away through the <a href="https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-708431">continuation, the expansion of the Abraham Accords.</a>”


	Clearly, President Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia might very well be the opportunity to bring home a major victory by persuading the Saudis to join the Abraham Accords. It will be a major foreign policy accomplishment for Biden in a presidency that has seen few accomplishments in domestic or foreign policy. If he was to get the Saudis to increase their oil output, and bring relief to American drivers, that would also be a significant triumph.


	Israel has always been ready for peace with its Arab neighbors. To make peace with Egypt and Jordan, albeit a cold peace, Israel gave up land for peace. The Saudis are practically neighbors, and from the beaches of Eilat one can see Saudi Arabia’s mountains. The Iranian menace to the region is uniting the Arab Gulf states and Israel. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Saudi officials declared that support for the Palestinians is no longer a foregone conclusion. Young Saudis in particular, are disillusioned with the Palestinian Authority, and resent Hamas’ close ties with Iran. As Saudi officials put it, “If Hamas builds a relationship with Iran to protect themselves, then <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-and-saudi-arabia-said-in-us-brokered-talks-to-improve-relations/">why don’t we have a relationship with Israel against Iran to protect ourselves</a>?” Perhaps it is no longer a question of if Saudi Arabia would make peace with Israel, but rather when.

Is Saudi Arabia Next to Make Peace With Israel?

Ever since the signing of the Abraham Accords in September 2020, the prevailing question was “would Saudi Arabia be next.” It appears now that things are

The US State Department once again is resuscitating the idea of reopening a Jerusalem consulate. But according to Al-Arabiya, the US is committed to the reopening of the US consulate in Jerusalem. Ned Price, the State Department spokesman told reporters last Tuesday that, “We continue to believe it can be an important way <a href="https://www.english.alarabiya.net/news/middle-east/2022/05/31/us-plays-down-israeli-report-committed-to-reopening-consulate-in-jerusalem">for our country to engage with and provide support for the Palestinian people</a>.” If that is to happen, the Biden administration will be responsible for rewarding the Palestinians for their intransigence and terror, as well as undermining Israel’s sovereignty over a united Jerusalem.


	The Bennett government is very much against such a move by the US. Israel contends that it would clearly erode Israel’s position in Jerusalem. Joe Biden, as a contender for the US presidency in 2020, made a campaign promise to reverse his predecessor’s decision in 2019, to close the Jerusalem consulate in eastern Jerusalem, and move its operations to the newly established US embassy to Israel in Jerusalem. President Trump, in an unprecedented action, moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Israel’s historical capital, and the seat of the Israeli government. Winning the 2020 elections, President Biden rushed to undo most of President Trump’s moves in the region, but he nonetheless resolved to keep the US embassy in Jerusalem.


	Several US presidents, both Democrat and Republican, promised in their election campaigns to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. None kept their promise. It was Donald Trump, however, who really kept his promise. Considering what Jerusalem meant for Israelis and Jews everywhere, it was simply an inconceivable bias by the past US administrations to single out Israel as virtually the only democratic state whose real capital (Jerusalem) was not recognized officially by its supposed allies and friends. All of them kept their embassies in Tel Aviv.


	Cognizant of an Israeli pushback against the Biden administration’s decision to reopen the Jerusalem consulate, which was hitherto delayed, prompted Ned Price to say, ”<a href="https://www.english.alarabiya.net/news/middle-east/2022/05/31/us-plays-down-israeli-report-committed-to-reopening-consulate-in-jerusalem">There are a number of steps that go into the reopening of any diplomatic facility</a>.” A report in the Times of Israel, suggested that the Biden administration has settled on a number of steps aimed at boosting ties with the Palestinians in lieu of reopening the US consulate in Jerusalem.


	The steps referred to by the Biden administration officials and explained to the Times of Israel include; elevating Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israel and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr, to the role of Special Envoy to the Palestinians. Amr will be based in Washington but will make regular trips to the region, and work closely with the Palestinian Affairs Unit (PAU), which is currently a section within the US Jerusalem embassy to Israel, but it will be housed in the old consulate building in eastern Jerusalem.


	Late last year, 200 Republican members of Congress led by US Representative Lee Zeldin (R-NY), signed a letter addressed to the Biden administration which rejected the Biden administrations decision to reopen the Jerusalem consulate. It stated that the consulate (closed by President Trump in 2019) is not compatible with US law, pointing out that Jerusalem is Israel’s only and undivided capital. The letter charged that the Biden administration would create a misguided situation in which the US would essentially have two separate diplomatic missions in Israel’s capital.


	The Republican House members argued furthermore that the US consulate General in Jerusalem that was established in 1844 was not intended to serve as an outreach to the Palestinians in Israel’s capital. Their letter urged the Biden administration to respect America’s close ally Israel, and its opposition to the reopening of the consulate.


	Back in November 2021, Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, in a closed door meeting in Washington with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has reportedly warned Blinken that reopening the consulate in Jerusalem “<a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/bennett-lapid-in-united-front-no-place-for-us-consulate-in-jerusalem">would risk toppling the coalition government</a>.” This came in response to Blinken stating in a joint press conference with Lapid earlier in Washington, that the Biden administration intends to proceed with the consulate plan. Blinken stated, “As I said in May, we’ll be moving with the process of opening a consulate as part of <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/bennett-lapid-in-united-front-no-place-for-us-consulate-in-jerusalem">deepening ties with the Palestinians</a>.”


	The Palestinian leadership in Ramallah has angrily rejected the Trump peace deal, titled Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People, unveiled on January 28, 2020. Mahmud Abbas, chairman of the PA, and his leadership, said no to the plan even before it was presented, and they did so without offering modifications to the plan or an alternative plan. Abbas was encouraged by some of the leading Democratic Party 2020 presidential candidates who denounced the Trump peace plan as a “smokescreen for annexation.” And yet, while some of the Democratic contenders dismissed the Trump peace plan, the ambassadors of Bahrain, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, who were present at the launch of the Trump peace plan, welcomed it. Other Arab states, including Egypt, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia, expressed their support for the Trump peace efforts, and praised many of the elements in the plan.


	In fact, the Trump peace plan preserved the boundaries of the two-state solution, while providing the Palestinians land from inside Israel’s June 4, 1967 territory to compensate for Israel’s absorbing the Israeli/Jewish settlement blocs in historical Judea and Samaria. Much like all previous no’s by the Palestinians, this was another no to peace from the Palestinians, who have refused to end the conflict. Moreover, the PA, and Abbas himself, are inciting violence against Israel at every given opportunity, and continue a policy of “pay to slay,” in which international humanitarian monetary aid to the Palestinians is being used as payments to the families of convicted Palestinian terrorists who have murdered Israelis.


	While the Biden administration has refrained from specification of Jerusalem’s final status, the message is nevertheless a clear backtracking from Trump’s plan that stipulated that “Jerusalem will remain the sovereign capital of the State of Israel, and that it should remain an undivided city.” To erase Trump’s positive achievements in the region, the Biden team is seeking to reward the Palestinians at Israel’s expense, by undermining Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem. It is mystifying why the Biden administration would once again seek dividing Jerusalem into two separate diplomatic entities: A US embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, and a US consulate for Palestinians in eastern Jerusalem. If indeed the Palestinians merit a special consulate, why not set it up in Ramallah?

U.S. Seeks Jerusalem Consulate For Palestinians

The US State Department once again is resuscitating the idea of reopening a Jerusalem consulate. But according to Al-Arabiya, the US is committed to the

For the first time since Israel began its aerial bombing over Syria, a battery of S-300 aerial defense missiles (ground-to-air) manned by Russian crews fired at an Israeli jet earlier this month. The missile missed its target, and apparently was not intended to shoot down the Israeli jet, but merely to serve as a warning. Putin’s Russia wanted to signal to Israel that it has perceived a tilt by Jerusalem toward Ukraine in the ongoing conflict between the two countries, and that it will not be without a price for Israel to pay.


	Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is clouding the skies over Europe. It has increased the threat of a nuclear exchange between Russia and the NATO alliance. The fear that Russia might cross into their territory has prompted Finland and Sweden to apply for NATO membership. Russia’s significant submarine bases in the Baltic seaports, armed with nuclear missiles, and bases in the Kola Peninsula in the extreme northwest of Russia, bordering Finland, is an appetizing target for Putin. Sweden has been a neutral state for over one hundred years, and Finland, close enough to Russia geographically, has been very careful about alienating its powerful neighbor. But, Putin’s aggression and his expansionist designs have convinced Finland and Sweden to throw caution to the wind, and get a security blanket.


	Israel, like Finland, is facing a Russian army to its north, in Syria. Moscow views the survival of the murderous Assad regime as its vital interest, especially since Syria is close enough to its soft underbelly in the Caucuses. Former Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was able to forge reasonably close relations with Putin, especially during the seemingly anti-Israel Obama administration. It enabled Israel’s air force to operate unmolested over Syrian airspace, in close coordination with Russian commanders. That took place while Russia was at least outwardly Iran’s ally, with Tehran being Israel’s arch enemy.


	Currently, with Israel actively providing Ukraine with medical supplies and humanitarian aid, as well as defensive arms, it is crucial for Jerusalem to have its political leaders more circumspect in dealing with the Ukraine crisis, and maintain a neutral stance, especially verbally. Open denunciations of Russia made by Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, is risking the delicate balancing act Israel is attempting to perform in the Ukraine conflict. It is now clear that Vladimir Putin’s Russia views Lapid as anti-Russian. Moscow denounced Lapid after he joined other countries in calling for Russia’s suspension from the UN Human Rights Council over its invasion of Ukraine. Lapid has also explicitly accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine. Should Lapid, the current alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, assume the office of Prime Minister in August 2023, relations between Russia and Israel are likely to become downright hostile.


	It is vital to remember that today’s Russia under Putin’s leadership is not the same as the Soviet Union of 1967, and 1973, when Moscow actively aided the Arab states (Egypt and Syria) in their wars with Israel. In 2022, Israel is also not the same as it was in 1973 (Yom Kippur War). It is much stronger, and Putin’s Russia understands that. Therefore it is imperative that both Moscow and Jerusalem continue to maintain a productive dialogue, and prevent violent confrontations that might damage the interests of both nations. Moscow does not aim to hurt Israel, and Russia has an overriding interest in preserving its gains in Syria. That in of itself is not contrary to Israel’s interests.


	Putin, as this reporter mentioned on numerous occasions, has a soft spot for Israel, and unlike many of his predecessors he is far from being an antisemite. On the contrary, his relationship with the Jewish community in Russia is very good, and many Jews are among his closest friends. Hosting Israel’s former President Reuben Rivlin in the Kremlin on March 16, 2016, Russia’s&nbsp;Tass&nbsp;reported Putin as saying, “<a href="https://tass.com/politics/862850?utm_source=ridl.io&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ridl.io&amp;utm_referrer=ridl.io">Russia and Israel have developed a special relationship&nbsp; </a>&nbsp;because 1.5 million Israeli citizens came from the former Soviet Union, they speak the Russian language, are bearers of Russian culture, (and have a) Russian mentality. They maintain relations with their relatives and friends in Russia, and this makes the interstate relations very special.”


	While Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made a sincere attempt to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, and has been in touch with both Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, Foreign Minister Lapid has taken a clear side in the conflict. The&nbsp;Washington Post&nbsp;(March 10, 2022) was able to report that, “Bennett’s ability to communicate between the sides brought about a shift in the positions of both sides since the beginning of his mediation – <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/10/israel-bennett-putin-zelensky-russia-ukraine-mediate/">from existential to territorial</a>. The result has been that Putin is no longer demanding Ukraine’s dissolution.”


	Bennett’s mediation bought Israel some time to ward off western criticism for not falling in line with western sanctions against Russia. Some political voices in Washington were not pleased with Bennett’s mediation, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave Bennett a green light. The point has been reached however, in which mediation might no longer be an option, and relations with Russia are likely to deteriorate. Thus, Israel’s aerial freedom in Syria might be in jeopardy. But, at least for now, the coordination mechanism between the Russian command in Syria and the IAF (Israeli Air Force) is still operating.


	Israel is walking a tight rope. The Biden administration and its western allies want Israel to take a more critical stance against Moscow, and Lapid is doing just that. In the meantime, however, Washington and its European allies are pushing hard to finalize the nuclear deal with Iran, a deal which appears weaker and of shorter duration than the previous 2015 JCPOA deal. If concluded, it would pose a serious existential threat to Israel.


	The Bennett government is on shaky ground, and the opposition leader, former PM Benjamin Netanyahu, is accusing the Bennett coalition of undermining Israel’s sovereignty. And, unless Bennett’s government is able to assert Israel’s critical interests, meaning, press for a better deal with Iran, or for a US military option against the Islamic Republic in exchange for Israel falling in line on Russia, Bennett stands to endure a colossal foreign policy failure. Bennett and Lapid must make it unambiguously clear to Washington that it cannot put at risk its vital interest of stopping Iran’s schemes against Israel in Syria, by alienating Russia, while at the same time the western powers go about concluding a dangerous deal with Iran. This is certain to test the statesmanship of the Bennett team.&nbsp;

Israel's Tightrope Act Between America and Russia

For the first time since Israel began its aerial bombing over Syria, a battery of S-300 aerial defense missiles (ground-to-air) manned by Russian crews fired

A debate among Israel’s coalition partners was taking place last week on whether Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), President of the Palestinian Authority (PA), is a “partner for peace” or a “political terrorist.” The debate is essentially between the Israeli political Left and Right. Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the rightist ‘Israel Our Home’ party has argued that Abbas “is using every opportunity to incite against the Israeli government.” On the flip side, Israel’s Health Minister, Nizan Horowitz, leader of the leftist Meretz party, considers Abbas a “peace partner.”


	During the memorial service for the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin last October (Hebrew calendar), Horowitz criticized both Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, for not meeting with Mahmoud Abbas. Horowitz said, “We need to finish his work (meaning Rabin’s) and bring about two states…<a href="https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/horowitz-slams-bennett-lapid-for-not-meeting-with-mahmoud-abbas-682340">there is a partner</a>, and whoever doesn’t talk to him strengthens Hamas.”


	In an apparent criticism of Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Lieberman pointed out at a faction meeting of his party that, “He (Mahmoud Abbas) must not be legitimized…He can’t be a partner for anything.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-apparent-swipe-at-gantz-liberman-urges-boycott-of-pas-abbas/">He is a terrorist just like the rest of the terrorists.&nbsp; He just deals in political terror, which is sometimes even more dangerous and harmful than conventional terror</a>.”


	The discord among Israel’s coalition partners was aggravated by the accidental killing last week of&nbsp;Al Jazeera&nbsp;reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, during clashes in the northern Samaria city of Jenin, known as the terror capital of the West Bank. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops were in Jenin’s refugee camp to apprehend terrorists involved in the recent murders of 19 Israeli civilians, policemen, and women.


	Abbas has categorically refused to cooperate with Israeli authorities on a joint investigation pertaining to the death of Abu Akleh. Abbas used the opportunity of Abu Akleh’s unfortunate death to score anti-Israel points in the international arena. He blamed Israel for the killing of Abu Akleh. It sounds like a repeat of the “2002 Jenin massacre hoax,” perpetrated by the Palestinians and their helpers in the western media. Such premature accusations were meant to smear the Jewish state before the facts have been fully revealed.


	Abbas asserted last Thursday that Israeli authorities were “fully responsible” for the killing of Abu Akleh. He said, “We hold the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for killing her.” He continued, “They cannot hide the truth with this crime. <a href="http://www.abcnews.go.com/international/wireStorypalestinians-reject-probe-israel-reporters-killing-84663910">are the ones who committed the crime, and because we don’t trust them, we will immediately go to the international Criminal Court.”</a>


	PM Naftali Bennett responded to Abbas’ charges, denying Israel access to basic findings required to get to the truth. He urged the PA not to take “any steps to <a href="http://www.abcnews.go.com/international/wireStorypalestinians-reject-probe-israel-reporters-killing-84663910">disrupt the investigation or to contaminate the investigation process</a>.” Soon after the regrettable death of Abu Akleh, Israel asked the PA to provide the bullet that hit the Palestinian journalist for a joint ballistic examination. The PA refused.


	The same Abbas who doesn’t trust Israel and blamed the “occupation authorities,” refused to end the Palestinian conflict with Israel and secure a Palestinian state for his people in 2008. Israeli PM Ehud Olmert offered Abbas the most generous peace deal ever, that would have ended the so-called “occupation” or Israel’s necessity to enter Jenin.


	As President of the PA, Abbas has taken hostile actions against Israel all along. He boycotted talks with Israel throughout the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations. Abbas never attempted to take tangible steps toward peace, bypassing and evading bilateral negotiations with Israel. At the same time, he has incessantly repeated the longstanding irredentist demands of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).


	In 2011, while agreeing to reconcile with Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization, Abbas vowed never to negotiate with Israel. In September 2011, Abbas deliberately bypassed negotiations with Israel, and officially requested that the UN recognize the independence of a unilaterally declared Palestinian state.


	At the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, on September 24, 2021, Abbas’ speech opened with invoking the “Nakba,” which means in essence, “catastrophe,” referring to the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948, which he held responsible for the Palestinian plight and the refugee problem. Abbas stated, “This year marks the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1101142">73rd anniversary of the Nakba</a>.” He warned that the current and former Israeli governments “have persisted in evading the two-state solution based on international law and UN resolution.” Lying with impunity, Abbas continued, “We have extended our hands time and time again for peace and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1101142">still cannot find a partner in Israel</a> … the leaders of Israel no longer feel any shame while stating their blunt opposition to this solution which is supported by global consensus.”


	It is simply astonishing that Abbas, facing the international community, would lie with a straight face, and equally unbelievable that the international community, then as now, didn’t renounced his big lie.


	A year earlier, in January 2020, US President Donald Trump presented his Middle East peace plan, which proposed a realistic two-state solution. Israel fully embraced it; the Arab Gulf states supported it enthusiastically, while Abbas rejected it, calling it a “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-51288022">conspiracy deal</a>.” Abbas shunned the Trump plan even before it was presented, and refused to join the peace talks. The Trump “Deal of the Century” would have pumped over $50 billion of investment dollars into the future Palestinian state, and made eastern Jerusalem the Palestinian capital, as well as create a contiguous state.


	Mahmoud Abbas used the death of Shireen Abu Akleh as a cudgel against Israel with the compliance of the international media, while at the same time inciting fellow Palestinians against Israel. This is not the ways of a peacemaker.


	Nizan Horowitz was delusional when in a meeting with Abbas in Ramallah last year he declared, “<a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/origins2021/10/israeli%20-ministers-meet-abbas-ramallah#ixzz7hma https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/10/israeli-ministers-meet-abbas-ramallah">We have a common mission: to maintain hope for peace, based on the two-state solution</a>. Tonight in Ramallah, with the President of the Palestinian Authority, we took another step to deepen cooperation with our closest and most important neighbors.” Horowitz’s statement smacks of the same wishful thinking British PM Chamberlain expressed after meeting Hitler in Munich, claiming to bring “Peace for our time.”


	Mahmoud Abbas has had multiple opportunities to consummate the two-state solution. Instead, he used every possible excuse. To resume talks with Israel he demanded release of Palestinian prisoners. When Israel complied, that was not enough. And when PM Olmert offered to admit into Israel 5,000 Palestinian refugees, it was not enough either.


	At this point, it is clear that the 87 year-old Abbas will never settle for a two-state solution, end to the conflict, and agree to a genuine peace with Israel. Israel must therefore look for a peace partner among the younger Palestinian generation, who unlike Abbas, would carry legitimacy and have courage to say yes to peace. To date, no such figure has surfaced.

Mahmoud Abbas: Eternal Political Terrorist?

A debate among Israel’s coalition partners was taking place last week on whether Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), President of the Palestinian Authority (PA), is a “

At its 74th birthday (May 4-5), the state of Israel has matured into a strong and prosperous nation. Still, many Israelis, while always complaining about the government’s shortcomings, would not want to live anywhere else. They are proud of their country’s accomplishments in its seven decades of existence as an independent Jewish state. On the eve of Independence Day 2022, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics announced that the population of Israel was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbs.gov.il/en/mediarelease/Pages/2022/Israels-Independence-Day-2022.aspx" target="_blank">9.506</a>&nbsp;million, almost twelve times the population as at the establishment of the state in 1948 (806,000). Jews and others constitute 79% of the population, and Arabs 21%. About 75% of the Jewish population is comprised today of native-born Israelis, and more than half are at least second-generation Israelis.


	The 74th Independence Day celebration was marred, however, by a spate of terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of 19 Israelis and wounded dozens of others. In its 74-years of independence, Israel lost over 24,000 soldiers and civilians in various wars and terrorist attacks. In the 1948 War of Independence alone, Israel lost close to 1% of its population at the time: 6,373 people, about 4,000 were soldiers, and the rest civilians.


	Nathan Alterman, Israel’s beloved poet, and chronicler of the War of Independence, a playwright, journalist, and translator, wrote in 1947 his immortal poem&nbsp;Silver Platter:&nbsp;“The state will not be given to the Jewish people on a Silver Platter.” Alterman wrote these wrenching words in 1947, soon after the UN voted on the Partition of Palestine on November 29, 1947. Alterman sought to prepare the Yeshuv (the Jewish community of Palestine) for the painful sacrifices independence would require. He stressed the point that in the coming war, everyone would have to make sacrifices.


	Alterman’s touching poem still remembered by this writer’s generation goes like this (in translation): “And the land grows still, the red eye of the sky slowly dimming over smoking frontiers. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As the nation arises, torn at heart but breathing, to receive its miracle, the only miracle. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As the ceremony draws near, it will rise, standing erect in the moonlight in terror and joy.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; When across from it will step out a youth and a lass and slowly march toward the nation.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dressed in battle gear, dirty, shoes heavy with grime, they ascend the path quietly. &nbsp;&nbsp;To change garb, wipe their brow, they have not yet found time.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Still bone weary from days and from nights in the field. Full of endless fatigue and unrested. Yet the dew of their youth is still seen on their head.&nbsp;&nbsp; Thus they stand at attention, giving no sign of life or death. &nbsp;&nbsp;Then a nation in tears and amazement will ask “who are you?” And they will answer quietly, “<a href="http://www.zionism-israel.com/hdoc/Silver_Platter.htm">We are the Silver Platter on which the Jewish state was given</a>.”


	The annual torch-lighting ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem marked the beginning of the Independence Day festivities. It follows a national day of mourning for Israel’s fallen soldiers and civilian victims of Palestinian-Arab terror. Uniquely in Israel, the entire nation stands still sharply at 11am, as a long siren ringing across the country is sounded. Vehicular traffic stops in the middle of major highways, and buses across all cities come to a halt. Every Israeli knows a friend, a neighbor, a soldier, or a family member who lost their lives to preserve the Jewish state.


	In a recorded address to the nation on Independence Day, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stated: “We will overcome any threat from the outside, Israel is stronger than ever.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-launches-74th-independence-day-with-torch-lighting-ceremony-1.10780..." target="_blank">The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Shin Bet security service, the Mossad are growing stronger at an unprecedented rate.</a>” Bennett added, “Israel is growing, high-tech is blooming, the health system is strengthening, and children in the country’s outskirts are receiving opportunities today they didn’t have before. And thank G-d, those who seek it can earn a living.”


	To be in Israel during Independence Day is to feel the pride and energy of this old-new nation. Considering where Jews were before 1948, in the early years of the state, and where it is today is to witness a miracle. It is not only the miracles on the battlefields, but in the transformation of the country’s infrastructure. It is a nation with few natural resources, but with the genius of its people, which made Israel into the “start-up nation.” Israeli inventions in medicine, agriculture, military technology, electronics, and high-tech in general,&nbsp;are simply stunning. While most Jews have been exiled from their land for 2000 years, and they have not had a fighting army since the days of Bar Kochva’s rebellion against Rome in 135CE, the exploits of the IDF are nothing short of incredible.


	Despite external threats and terror, Israel remains a democratic oasis in the midst of a regional cauldron of barbarism, providing the right to vote to all its citizens, and guaranteeing genuine freedom of religion and freedom of expression. It is a shining example of civility and tolerance in the midst of chaos and intolerance.


	Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of the British expeditionary forces in Afghanistan called the IDF “the most moral army in the world.” Col. Kemp explained: “There are two views of the Israeli Military — what you hear in most of the media, and the truth. I am going to tell you the truth. I have fought in combat zones around the world including Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Macedonia, and Iraq. I was also present throughout the conflict in Gaza in 2014. Based on my experience and on my observations, the Israel Defense Forces,&nbsp;<a href="https://assets.ctfassets.net/qnesrjodfi80/3Eo3mGQdYAYwu22W2wEQus/37d06bde6b68f0d90457cddd35eb90" target="_blank">the IDF, does more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare</a>.”


	Dvora Waysman, in a&nbsp;Jerusalem Post&nbsp;piece summarizing Independence Day best, wrote: “There is such a feeling of pride when I see the flags flying from cars and buildings all over the country.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.jpost.com/jerusalem-report/article-705907" target="_blank">When I hear the words of ‘Hatikvah’ being sung even now, there are tears in my eyes.”</a>

Israel at 74

At its 74th birthday (May 4-5), the state of Israel has matured into a strong and prosperous nation. Still, many Israelis, while always complaining about the

Jordanian Prime Minister Bishar Khasawneh angered Israelis with his irresponsible statements in a session of the Jordanian Parliament last month (April 18, 2022).&nbsp;In an unusually hostile language for a high government official, he called Israel the “occupation government,” and Israelis, "Zionist sympathizers.” He said, "<a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/rejecting-jordans-praise-for-rioters-bennett-decries-incitement-to-violence/" target="_blank">I salute every Palestinian, and all the employees of the Jordanian Waqf, who proudly stand like minarets, hurling stones in a volley of clay at the Zionist sympathizers defiling the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of the Israeli occupation</a>."


	In his inflammatory address, al-Khasawneh encouraged the Palestinian rioters on Temple Mount, who in advance of the Islamic holiday of Ramadan gathered rocks and stored them in the holy sanctuary of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They then threw rocks at Israeli buses en route to the Western Wall, as well as on Jewish worshippers below at the Western Wall.&nbsp;On Temple Mount, (al-Haram al-Sharif for Muslims) the Palestinians clashed with Israeli police who were trying to protect the Jewish worshippers below, at the Western Wall (also called the Kotel).


	Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was quick to respond to the Jordanian Prime Minister’s incitement.&nbsp;He stated, “The remarks accusing Israel of violence directed against us…there are those who are encouraging rock-throwing and the use of violence against the citizens of the State of Israel.” Bennett added, “This is unacceptable,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/rejecting-jordans-praise-for-rioters-bennett-decries-incitement-to-violence/" target="_blank">this is a reward for inciters, especially Hamas, which is trying to ignite violence in Jerusalem</a>.&nbsp;We will not allow it to happen.”&nbsp;


	Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s Justice Minister, responding directly to the Jordanian PM remarks, tweeted that, “<a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/rejecting-jordans-praise-for-rioters-bennett-decries-incitement-to-violence/" target="_blank">Statements made by senior officials in the Kingdom of Jordan are grave and unacceptable</a>.”&nbsp;


	What seemed to be only days earlier as a winter honeymoon between senior Israeli officials and King Abdullah II of Jordan became a crisis of sorts during Ramadan.&nbsp;The relations between Amman and Jerusalem deteriorated sharply, with senior Jordanian officials competing among themselves as to which one would be more hostile to Israel.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;


	On March 29, 2022, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, made the first ever Israeli state visit to Jordan, and he was received with “pomp and circumstance,” following 28-years of formal peace between Jordan and Israel.&nbsp;Herzog implored King Abdullah to help prevent Palestinian rioters from repeating the violence they unleashed the previous Ramadan.&nbsp;&nbsp;


	Israel’s PM Bennett, Foreign Minister Lapid, and Defense Minister Gantz also visited Jordan in recent months.&nbsp;All of them went with the message that called for strengthening ties between Jordan and Israel, which were&nbsp;on the cool side during former Prime Minister Netanyahu’s time in office.&nbsp;&nbsp;


	Jordan is much more dependent on Israel economically than the reverse. To help the strapped Jordanian economy, Israel permits Jordanians to work in Israel, and Israeli tourists in Jordan bring significant tourism revenue to the Kingdom.&nbsp;Israel provides water and gas to Jordan, and allows it to export goods to the West Bank. Hostility toward Israel comes from a major part of the Jordanian public, primarily from its Palestinian population, who comprise at least 60% of Jordan’s population. Queen Rania, King Abdullah II wife, is of Palestinian parentage as well.&nbsp;And yet, the Jordanian monarchy, while grappling with a beleaguered economy, influx of refugees from Iraq and Syria, and Islamist opponents has long recognized the value of its relationship with Israel, in a volatile region that is the Middle East.&nbsp;&nbsp;


	“Jordan is Palestine,” a slogan popularly attributed to Israel’s late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, ignores the actual originator:&nbsp;King Abdullah I, the grandfather of the current King and namesake.&nbsp;After annexing the West Bank on April 24, 1950, he declared that there are no Palestinians or Palestine, and henceforth all are Jordanians. Arafat latched onto the same concept, but in the reverse.&nbsp;Twenty years later, he claimed Jordan as part of Palestine.&nbsp;Abdullah’s annexation of the West Bank was considered illegal by the international community, with only The United Kingdom and Pakistan approving it.&nbsp;


	Israel is committed to safeguard the territorial integrity of the monarchy, and in 1970, during the Black September bloodletting between Arafat’s Palestinian forces and King Hussein’s Jordanian army; Syrian tanks were poised to cross into Jordan to aid Arafat’s Palestinians. Israel sent a warning to Damascus, that should its forces cross into Jordan, Israel would bomb them.&nbsp;The Syrians withdrew, and Israel saved the day for King Hussein.&nbsp;Jordan serves as Israel’s strategic depth on its eastern frontier, and cooperation between Amman and Jerusalem is a key factor in the US defense strategy in the Middle East.&nbsp;


	The relationship between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and Israel has seen many fluctuations, hence, the current “crisis” surrounding the Ramadan violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque need not be too worrisome.&nbsp;Jordan is divided on Israel.&nbsp;On one hand there is the media, which feeds the populace with hostility toward Israel, along with Jordanian politicians who compete with each other on expressing their hate for Israel: together they have impacted on public opinion in the monarchy.&nbsp;On the other hand, there are the Jordanian security services and the army, who are the only partners Israel has in Jordan.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;


	King Abdullah II has maintained diplomatic and security ties with Israel throughout his 22-year reign, irrespective of who Israel’s head of government happens to be.&nbsp;Jordan has prioritized national interest over personality-based calculation.&nbsp;Abdullah is cognizant of his large Palestinian constituency, and having had a mother who was an English Christian woman who converted to Islam in order to marry his father – the late King Hussein, making him especially cautious about angering them.&nbsp;He is therefore unable to foster&nbsp;a warm peace with Israel.&nbsp;The US annual aid to Jordan in the amount of $1.5 billion is crucial to the Hashemite Kingdom, and it compels&nbsp;Abdullah and his ministers to keep Jordan’s relationship with Israel on a relatively continuous track.&nbsp;


	Jordan’s current Prime Minister al-Khasawneh seems to have a history of hostility toward Israel.&nbsp;He declined to accept the ambassadorship to Israel, and he wrote his doctoral thesis in 2007, as an appraisal of the right of return and compensation of Jordanian nationals of Palestinian refugee origins. Fortunately, it is Abdullah, not al-Khasawneh, who determines Jordan’s policy toward Israel.&nbsp;And while Israel’s peace with Jordan will likely remain cold, the security coordination between the two countries will continue to be vital and strong.&nbsp;One thing appears to be certain, should an Islamist revolution end the monarchy, Jordan will indeed become Palestine.&nbsp;

Can the Cold Peace Between Israel and Jordan Last?

Jordanian Prime Minister Bishar Khasawneh angered Israelis with his irresponsible statements in a session of the Jordanian Parliament last month (April 18,

When the former Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) Ban Ki-moon addressed the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict on November 29, 2012, the date was significant.&nbsp;Sixty-five years earlier, the UN voted to partition Mandatory Palestine into two states.&nbsp;Ban Ki-moon failed however to preface his historical reference with the historical facts: The Palestinian-Arabs rejected the Partition resolution, and chose to wage a terror campaign against the Jewish community of Palestine the day after the Partition Plan was voted on (November 29, 1947).&nbsp;Six months later, on May 14, 1948, David Ben Gurion, Israel’s founding father and&nbsp;first Prime Minister, declared in Tel Aviv the establishment of the Jewish state named Israel.&nbsp;A day earlier, the British Mandatory administration departed Palestine.&nbsp;One day after Israel’s declaration of independence, four Arab armies combined with Palestinian-Arab irregulars launched a war of annihilation against the nascent Jewish state.&nbsp;The Jews of Palestine did accept the UN Partition Plan, albeit with less land than promised by the League of Nations mandate given to Britain, which included both banks of the Jordan River (what is today all of Israel and Jordan).&nbsp;


	Ban Ki-moon wrote: “What is needed now is political will and courage.&nbsp;Leaders must show a sense of historic responsibility and vision.&nbsp;Israelis and Palestinians must break out of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.un.org/press/en/2012/sgsm14685.doc.htm" target="_blank">a Zero-sum mentality</a>, and embrace a peaceful path forward.&nbsp;That is the best hope for both peoples.&nbsp;Young people in particular, should be given reason to look to the future with expectation, not with resignation at the certainty of a prolonged conflict.”&nbsp;


	Ban Ki-moon expressed meaningful words. The problem is that it should have been directed at one party only; The Palestinians.&nbsp;It is the Palestinians who have rejected self-determination and statehood because of their zero-sum mentality.&nbsp;Compromise was never part of the Arab-Palestinian lexicon; in fact, the minority of Palestinians who sought compromise and peaceful relations with the Jewish community in Palestine were murdered by the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini.&nbsp;The Mufti was Adolf Hitler’s ally during WWII, and a strong advocate of the Final Solution, which resulted in the Holocaust. The same Haj Amin al-Husseini chartered the course of zero-sum approach in Arab affairs from the early 1920’s until today.&nbsp;Ban Ki-moon’s lecturing Israel a decade ago&nbsp;about zero-sums, political will, and courage is not only misplaced but it is indicative of the UN anti-Israel bias.&nbsp;


	Early on, Palestinian Jewish leaders including Ben Gurion, and Israel’s first president, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, tried hard to reach agreements with Palestinian-Arabs.&nbsp;They were willing to make painful compromises for peace.&nbsp;And since the 1920’s until today, Palestinian-Arabs have said&nbsp;NO to each and every proposal presented by the Jews of Palestine, and later by the State of Israel. The Mufti’s zero-sum attitude stemming from his rabid antisemitism, and Islamist extremism, has influenced generations of Palestinian leaders including the Mufti’s distant relative - Yasser Arafat, and to a&nbsp;lesser extent his successor, Mahmud Abbas.&nbsp;


	Zero-sum politics as practiced by the Palestinians (the Mufti) meant rejecting the 1937 Peel commission recommendation of an Arab state on 75% of Mandatory Palestine, and a Jewish state on less than 20%.&nbsp;As the Mufti saw it, even 1% of Jewish sovereignty was unacceptable.&nbsp;It was to be everything (100% of Mandatory Palestine) for the Palestinians and nothing for the Jews. This attitude was repeated a decade later in the 1947 Partition Plan.&nbsp;It has also pervaded the thinking of Arafat and Abbas, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Charter, and today’s Hamas’ charter that seeks the destruction of the Jewish state, and its replacement with an Islamist Palestinian state.&nbsp;&nbsp;


	At the July, 2000 Camp David summit chaired by President Bill Clinton, which included Palestinian Authority chairman Arafat, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, far reaching concessions to the Palestinians were offered by Barak and endorsed by Clinton.&nbsp;Arafat rejected all of it, and chose instead to launch the Second Intifada against Israeli civilians. Arafat’s unwillingness to compromise continued the Mufti’s tradition. Abbas, likewise, failed to compromise when in 2008, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert offered even more extensive concessions.&nbsp;In both cases, Arafat and Abbas knew that anything less than their impossible maximalists demands, including the ‘return of Palestinian refugees to Israel’ (millions of descendants born in Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere in the Arab world, which would spell the end of the Jewish state, creating a bi-national state) would result in their assassination. The Mufti’s legacy of murdering any leader that would compromise with the Jews continued in the Palestinian streets.&nbsp;


	There is also the Islamist notion of ‘dar al-Islam,’ or the domain or house of Islam.&nbsp;This is the belief that any territory conquered by Muslims is forever part of the Waqf (an Islamic endowment of property to be held in trust).&nbsp;Muslims consider all of Palestine part of the Islamic domain; they similarly consider Spain as well.&nbsp;To the likes of the Mufti and his successors, it means that only Muslims can rule in Palestine.&nbsp;Hence, compromising on a two-state solution, namely partition, or a Jewish sovereign state, is haram or forbidden.&nbsp;


	The Mufti laid down a pattern of behavior in the 1920’s that has been followed to this day.&nbsp;It shuns compromise and operates on intimidation, and murder of anyone who has transgressed.&nbsp;During British Mandatory times, Arab moderates were liquidated by the Mufti’s goons.&nbsp;It has solidified the extremists that still set the tone in the Palestinian society, even among Israeli-Arabs.&nbsp;Israeli-Arab parliamentary (Knesset) representatives are virtually all anti-Israel extremists who openly and defiantly stand in solidarity with Palestinian terrorists.&nbsp;Increasingly though, ordinary Israeli-Arabs are integrating into Israeli society and are rejecting the extremism of their leaders.&nbsp;The majority of Israeli-Arabs, and Jerusalem Palestinians with Israeli identity cards, prefer to live in Israel rather than under the PA.&nbsp;&nbsp;


	Ban Ki-moon stated that, “The outline of an end to the conflict is clear. We know them well.&nbsp;They are laid out in United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, the Madrid principles,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2012/sgsm14685.doc.htm" target="_blank">including land for peace</a>, the road map, and existing agreements between the parties…”&nbsp;


	Ban Ki-moon was clearly pandering to the Islamic bloc in the UN when he invoked the Saudi 2002 “peace plan,” which echoed the Palestinian demand of the “return of the Palestinian refugees.” He should have known better than make his moral equivalency statements.&nbsp;Israel did make good on the UNSC resolution 242 calling for land for peace.&nbsp;Israel returned the entire Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, including its oil wells, and demolished established Jewish communities. Israel did the same with Jordan; it traded land for peace.&nbsp;


	Once Arafat’s PLO took over negotiations with Israel following the Madrid process, there was never a chance for peace.&nbsp;Just like his distant relative, the Mufti, he used intimidation and terror to squash any possibility for a peaceful compromise and a two-state solution.&nbsp;The weakness of the current Abbas-led PA has increased the influence of the Islamist terror group Hamas in Gaza, and their jihadist partners; the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.&nbsp;


	As long as the legacy of the Mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini prevails among Palestinians, and the zero-sum mentality coupled with intimidation, terror, and murder&nbsp;guides Palestinian leadership, there will not be peace or a two-state solution.

Palestinian Zero-Sum Mentality

When the former Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) Ban Ki-moon addressed the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict on November 29, 2012, the date was

The anti-Israel and antisemitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement were given another win by an American academic association this time; it was the Middle East Studies Association (MESA). On March 23, 2022, its membership approved a resolution endorsing “<a href="https://mesana.org/news/2022/03/23/middle-east-scholars-vote-to-endorse-bds" target="_blank">the Palestinian call for solidarity in the form of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)</a>.” The vote was 768-167 in favor of the resolution, which held Israel accountable for alleged human rights violations as suggested by the pro-Palestinian-led organization. The resolution calls for an academic boycott of Israeli institutions and universities.&nbsp;


	It is rather ironic, if not extremely cynical that the actual founder of the BDS Movement, Omar Barghouti, a Palestinian-Arab who was born in Qatar, not in “Palestine,” received his Master’s degree in philosophy in the heartland of Zionist Israel, at Tel Aviv University. He and many of his fellow Palestinian students have enjoyed total academic freedom there, including participation in anti-Israel demonstrations, that they wouldn’t dare hold in Palestinian universities, where they would likely be beaten, arrested, banished, or even killed.&nbsp;


	The same Barghouti who incites against Israel worldwide, with charges of “apartheid,” declared in June 2013, “<a>We have no faith in the so-called negotiations</a>,” and rejected the idea of a two-state solution. He has likewise rejected peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and advocates the dissolution of the Jewish state. When asked by an Arab interviewer Ali Mustafa (Electronic Intifada, May 2009) to explain calling Israel “an apartheid state,” he claimed that “<a href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/boycotts-work-interview-omar-barghouti/8263" target="_blank">he doesn’t need to prove it</a>…”&nbsp;


	The fact that Arab-Israelis (some calling themselves Palestinians), are involved in every facet of Israeli life, from being members of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) to Supreme Court Judges, high ranking military officers, hospital doctors and administrators, pharmacists, university professors, and now the Arab-Islamic party Ra’am, being part of the Israeli coalition government makes Barghouti’s claims willfully outrageous. As to the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and in the Gaza Strip, their terror against Israeli Jewish civilians necessitates Israeli safety measures such as a security fence, check-points, and secure roads for Israelis living in these parts. Let us be clear, Palestinians in the West Bank are not Israeli citizens, and have rejected statehood and compromises for peace time and time again.&nbsp;


	The fact that MESA members have endorsed the BDS Movement makes them complicit in partnering with terror, rejection of peace, and a two-state solution. Authoritarian and undemocratic entities such as the terrorists Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, Assad’s regime in Syria, and the Ayatollahs regime in Iran,&nbsp;who torture and murder teenagers, and religious and ethnic minorities with impunity, are ignored by MESA. It lays bare MESA’s anti-Israel bias. There was no MESA vote to boycott or sanction these countries and groups, nor any other oppressive regime anywhere, applying it only to the Jewish state that provides religious freedom, with civil and human rights for all of its citizens.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;


	Another irony is that while MESA is turning away Israeli universities research institutions, Arab states have welcomed them with open arms. Bahrain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Morocco, and others are seeking to cooperate and learn from Israeli academic institutions. Conversely, MESA and many of its membership have chosen to be identified with intolerance and bias.&nbsp;


	Attending a number of MESA conferences, this reporter (a graduate of Middle Eastern Studies) couldn’t help but sense the anti-Israel bias. Israel is essentially shoved into a corner while the focus is on the Arab world, and pandering to the Palestinian cause.&nbsp;


	In MESA’s resolution to boycott Israeli institutions it cited, “<a href="https://mesana.org/news/2022/03/23/middle-east-scholars-vote-to-endorse-bds" target="_blank">restriction of movement for Palestinians</a>,” but failed to mention Palestinian terror, and targeting Israeli Jews for murder. MESA didn’t mention the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hatred embedded in Palestinian school curriculums and pervasive throughout the Palestinian educational system from kindergarten to university, nor the incitement to murder that follows. MESA charged that Israel is “<a href="https://mesana.org/news/2022/03/23/middle-east-scholars-vote-to-endorse-bds" target="_blank">attacking Palestinian educational institutions</a>,” but didn’t reveal that these unnamed Palestinian institutions are hotbeds for Palestinian terrorists, and an armory for instruments of death, such as bombs, guns, and other devices. And, on rare occasions when Israeli personnel enter a Palestinian campus, it is strictly, and only as a counter-terrorism measure to seize arms and detain terrorists before they get a chance to kill.&nbsp;


	MESA North America called on American colleges and universities to “<a>uphold academic freedom on their campuses</a>.” But, Arab and leftist groups, including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and BDS Movement activists, regularly and violently disrupt pro-Israel speakers on campuses throughout America with impunity. MESA has never issued a resolution boycotting or censuring these organizations that have made a mockery of academic freedom. &nbsp;


	MESA hypocrisy notwithstanding, its decision to boycott Israel didn’t arouse attention in Israel or elsewhere. MESA, like the other associations who succumbed to the anti-Israel hatred, long ago stopped being a gateway for Israeli academics.&nbsp;Israeli researchers are currently welcome in most Arab countries to the chagrin of the Palestinians and their supporters. In the UAE in particular, Israeli scholars and researchers are sought-after guests.&nbsp;The wider world is open to Israel, Israelis, and prominent research institutes worldwide promoting close cooperation with Israeli institutions, recognizing Israel’s academic excellence.&nbsp;


	The professional and academic associations, as well as some of the mainline Protestant denominations calling for boycotting Israel, are usually staffed and controlled by anti-Israel activists who take advantage of the passivity of the majority of the membership, who tend to be apathetic toward politicking.&nbsp;In the case of MESA especially, two-thirds of its association’s membership did not participate in the vote, a clear expression of their disinterest in mixing academic research with a political agenda and action.&nbsp;In fact, many members cancelled their membership in MESA as a result.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;


	Professor Eyal Zisser, of Tel Aviv University, Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies pointed out that, “Among the leading activists calling for the boycott of Israel <a href="https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-israel-boycotters-bark-but-their-bite-is-negligible/" target="_blank">are the fringes of the American Left, Arab-American researchers who have made hatred for Israel – not criticism – the lowest common denominator that unites them and gives them an identity</a>.&nbsp;None of these people can agree on anything pertaining to the Arab world – the conflict between Sunnis and Shiites, between secularism and Islam, between dictatorships and democracy – hence Israel is the hatchet they use in search of their lost identity.&nbsp;Essentially, when they attack Israel what they mean is the United States, which they view as the source of all ills afflicting the Arab world.&nbsp;But because the American taxpayer funds their salaries, it’s convenient for them to turn their arrows at Israel.”&nbsp;


	MESA’s boycott of Israel has only hurt its membership and its image as a fair-minded association.&nbsp;Israel’s scientific and technological advances have benefited and enriched humanity.&nbsp;This has been recognized by numerous governments,&nbsp;especially the US, where most states have legislated anti-boycott laws. MESA’s boycott of Israeli institutions is at best like a ‘dog...all bark but no bite.’

The Anti-Israel Bias of the Middle East Studies Association

The anti-Israel and antisemitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement were given another win by an American academic association this time; it was

One can understand the biased propaganda in the Palestinian media. Their conflict with Israel makes them demonize the Jewish state. What is it about the anti-Israel bias, and distortion of facts by many in the western media? They can easily discern fact from fiction, and they’re free to move everywhere in Israel, with access to people and events, yet their reports lack accuracy, and smack of bias.&nbsp;


	Media outlets such as Reuters,&nbsp;Guardian, and&nbsp;BBC to name a few, are deliberately avoiding&nbsp;using such words as “terror,” and “terrorist,” in the way they&nbsp;covered the recent terror attack by a Palestinian Arab on innocent Israeli civilians sitting in a Dizengoff street bar in central Tel Aviv, last Thursday, April 7, 2022. This&nbsp;triggered an angry reaction from the Israeli Foreign Ministry to the above-named media outlets over the deliberate omission of the nature of the attack, and the identity of the terrorist attacker who murdered three young Israelis and wounded twelve others.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;


	The BBC headline reported from Israel that, “<a>Palestinian gunman killed after a deadly attack at Tel Aviv bar</a>,” adding, “He was found after a huge manhunt following an attack on a bar which killed two people, police say.”&nbsp;In this BBC YouTube video, the announcer called the Palestinian terrorist simply “gunman.” No motive was given by the BBC for the terrorist killer’s action, when it was clear&nbsp;he was motivated by a jihadist urge to kill Israeli Jews, with the same motivation the previous three terror attacks in Beersheba, Hadera, and B’nei Brak.&nbsp;The BBC report failed to identify the victims as Israeli Jews.&nbsp;


	In none of the subsequent eleven revisions of its headlines, nor in the rest of the story, did the BBC use the words “terror” or “terrorist” to define the terrorist killer Ra’ad Hazem from Jenin… Instead, audiences were told at various points that it was a “gun attack” or a “shooting” by a Palestinian gunman, and sometimes “Palestinian attacker.”&nbsp;Apparently, the selectively applied by BBC editorial guidelines on the use of language, the words terror, terrorism, and terrorist appear only in describing counter-terrorism, and quotes from Israeli officials.&nbsp;


	Reuters World tweeted on the terror attack, “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/palestinian-who-killed-2-tel-aviv-shot-by-israeli=-forces-2022-04-08/" target="_blank">Israeli forces shoot dead Palestinian after Tel Aviv bar attack</a>.”&nbsp;This distorted report was even worse than the BBC’s. Nowhere does it mention that three Israelis were murdered and many others injured by the “Palestinian,” or his motive for the killings. Moreover, the Reuters tweet puts a negative onus on “Israeli forces,”&nbsp;not on the terrorist killer, and there is no clue as to who was attacked and killed at the Tel Aviv bar.&nbsp;


	The British Guardian&nbsp;headlined its story, “Israeli forces kill Palestinian following shooting in Tel Aviv bar that left two dead.” Angry Israelis flooded&nbsp;social media, outraged by the Guardian’s headline.&nbsp;As a result, the Guardian changed its headline to “Israel: Two dead following an armed gunman opened fire in Tel Aviv bar.” Once again, the headline does not identify the “armed gunman” or his Israeli victims.&nbsp;


	The Israeli Foreign Ministry was not content with the Guardian’s slight change of&nbsp;headline, and sought to point out the paper’s lack of professionalism.&nbsp;The message to the paper was, “words have consequences,” and when mistakes are made, it is essential that the outlet correct it immediately.&nbsp;


	The spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry tweeted in response to the BBC’s refusal to use the terms “terror” or “terrorist,” suggesting that if&nbsp;(the BBC) is unable to call a person who murdered Israelis (simply because they were Israelis) a terrorist, that (the BBC) is giving legitimization to his deeds.&nbsp;


	CNN, NPR, Washington Post, and&nbsp;New York Times, like their British counterparts, used the same script provided by Reuters, refraining from calling the Palestinian killer a terrorist.&nbsp;The New York Times, like the British outlets, used the term “occupied territories” to define Judea and Samaria, typical for the liberal-left press.&nbsp;Although the New York Times provided more details, its headline read, “Palestinian <a href="nytimes.com/2022/04/07/world/middleeast/israel-tel-aviv-shooting.html">who killed 2 in Tel Aviv is shot dead after manhunt</a>.”&nbsp;


	The anti-Israel bias in the western media can be dated to the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War,&nbsp;when Israel was transformed by the media from a proverbial “David” into a “Goliath.” To many in the liberal media, Jews are to be victims, not victors.&nbsp;Sympathy was given to the martyred Jews in the Holocaust, but none to the living Israeli Jews today, who have survived and flourished against all odds.&nbsp;Democratic and Jewish Israel was able to achieve material and military success, which raised old antisemitic tropes by some reporters and editors, driven by envy and resentment.&nbsp;The secular globalist media elites in America and Europe resent the idea of a Jewish state, but have no problem with 22 Arab-Muslim states, and 57 states (the Organization of Islamic Conference) under the banner of Islam.&nbsp;


	Many reporters and editors&nbsp;are clearly ignorant of Middle Eastern history, and most don’t speak the languages of the Middle East (Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew). As a result, one would rarely read in an article about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that mentioned the fact that the Palestinian-Arabs rejected self-determination in November 1947, when the UN voted to partition Palestine into two sovereign states: an Arab state and Jewish state.&nbsp;This was the second opportunity for Arab-Palestinians to assert their self-determination.&nbsp;The first&nbsp;was a decade earlier when the British Peel Commission arrived at the same conclusion: that there must be two separate states for Jews and Arabs in Palestine.&nbsp;


	The Palestinian Arabs rejected many more such opportunities in subsequent years.&nbsp;The Oslo Accords and the July 2000 summit at Camp David could have provided the Palestinians with a state. Instead, Arafat&nbsp;chose a bloody intifada.&nbsp;In 2008, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert made even greater concessions to Mahmoud Abbas than PM Ehud Barak made to Arafat. Still, Palestinian leaders continued to reject statehood by saying no to compromise and peace.&nbsp;Much like in 1947, Palestinian leaders would rather focus on destroying the Jewish state than provide a national framework (state) in which their people could prosper.&nbsp;Prosperity for Palestinians won’t be found in Hamas-controlled Gaza or in the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, where authoritarianism, corruption, and human rights abuses are the rule.&nbsp;Israel is being used as the scapegoat by Hamas and the PA leadership to cover up for their misrule.&nbsp;With Palestinian media, mosques, and schools preaching hatred for Israel and Jews, and inciting their young people to kill Israelis, is it any wonder killers like Ra’ad Hazem would murder innocent Israelis relaxing in a Tel Aviv bar?&nbsp;


	A significant number of western media outlets and their leadership have resented&nbsp;Jewish people’s success, and now begrudge the success and prosperity of&nbsp;Israeli democracy, as imperfect as it may be. The constant harping on “occupied Palestinian territory” by many of these outlets is patently false and misleading.&nbsp;The late Eugene Rostow, former dean of Yale University law school and former Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs in the Lyndon Johnson administration, made it clear that Israel has as much claim to the West Bank territories as the Palestinians. You won’t, however, find it in&nbsp;BBC, NPR, or NYTimes reports.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;


	The easiest route for today’s reporters and their editors is to pick an underdog and a bully.&nbsp;In the eyes of the “politically correct” elites in the western liberal media, the Palestinians are “brown people” and are therefore automatically underdog “victims.”&nbsp;Hence, their underlying perverted rationale is, “white” Israeli forces, “shoot dead Palestinians,” and the Palestinian terrorist killer is merely a “Palestinian attacker,” and not a vile terrorist murderer.

Western Media Distortions and Anti-Israel Bias

One can understand the biased propaganda in the Palestinian media. Their conflict with Israel makes them demonize the Jewish state. What is it about the anti-

President Joe Biden seems to be dedicated to the foreign policies of his former boss, President Barrack Obama.&nbsp;Like Obama, he is clearly bent on reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) also known as the Iran nuclear deal.&nbsp;In its eagerness to sign a deal with the Iranians at all costs, the Biden administration is willing to overlook the human rights abuses being committed by the Ayatollah’s regime and its praetorian guards – the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).&nbsp;It is similarly ready to put aside the issue of Iran’s development of long-range ballistic missiles that would enable Tehran to equip such long-range missiles with nuclear payloads and target major sites on American soil, not to mention all points in Israel and the Arab Gulf states.


	Former President Obama did more than lift the sanctions imposed on Iran, he provided the Ayatollahs with $150 billion in cash.&nbsp;It enabled the Iranian regime to grant generous military and financial aid to the Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, the jihadist Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Hamas in Gaza, as well as the Houthis in Yemen.&nbsp;The windfall from the JCPOA also afforded the IRGC to&nbsp;provide military training, equipment, and funds to an assortment of Shiite militias from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.&nbsp;It amounted to the Obama administration strengthening Iran and its proxies at the expense of the security interests of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other Gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain.


	President Donald Trump reversed that equation.&nbsp;He applied a “maximum pressure” sanction policy that crippled Iran’s economy. He also maintained closer ties with Saudi Arabia, and designated the Houthis as a terrorist organization.&nbsp;At the same time, Trump became the first American president to fulfill the promise to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel’s historical capital – Jerusalem.&nbsp;He recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and acknowledged the legality of Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria. Trump consigned the IRGC to the list of terrorist organizations, and placed sanctions on its leadership.


	The Biden administration is now ready to reverse practically all the actions his predecessor took in the Middle East.&nbsp;First and foremost, Biden is prepared to turn Trump’s “maximum pressure” on Iran into “maximum concessions,” rewarding Iran for renegotiating the nuclear deal.&nbsp;The Biden administration is also seeking to bring about a rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, just as Obama did.&nbsp;This is part of the administration’s so-called refocusing on the Asia-Pacific theatre, while leaving the Middle East to fend for itself.&nbsp;This divestiture from the region, while China and Russia are moving deeper into the Middle East, may backfire on the US.&nbsp;It is clearly evidenced by Saudi Arabia’s leaders ignoring Biden’s calls and American requests from Riyadh to pump more oil into the market, to satisfy western consumers demand, and in an effort to lower energy costs for Americans.&nbsp;


	Curiously, while asking the Saudis to increase the oil supply so that Americans at the gas pump will be less angry, as they will soon vote in American election primaries, Biden has de-listed the Houthis as a terrorist organization.&nbsp;Another irony is that Biden also asked the Saudis and Israelis to support the sanctions against Russia over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.&nbsp;Yet, at the same time, Russia is more than likely getting sanction waivers so that it can continue to guarantee the nuclear deal with Iran. No wonder the Saudis are snubbing the Biden team.&nbsp;&nbsp;


	Biden’s “balancing” act is in many ways an assault on the regional order the US had established following WWII.&nbsp;The nuclear deal with Iran would likely replace the former US-led regional security structure with a system in which Iran, backed by China and Russia, becomes America’s new sub-contractors, while its hitherto allies&nbsp;-&nbsp;the Arab Gulf states, and to some extent Israel, are demoted to second-tier states.&nbsp;It is precisely for this reason that some of the moderate Sunni-Arab states, especially Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco,&nbsp;the UAE, and Israel, seem to be forming a defense and security pact, as a bulwark against an aggressive and hegemonic Iran, that is becoming a “threshold nuclear state.”&nbsp;The above mentioned states still hope that the US will play a major role in such an alliance.&nbsp;The Sde Boker summit earlier this month laid this unprecedented foundation.


	During both the Biden and Obama administrations, Iran increased its maligning activities in the region directly or through its Shiite proxies.&nbsp;Yet both Biden and Obama have called on Riyadh to “de-escalate its war in Yemen against the Houthis, and advised Jerusalem to forgo building homes in Judea and Samaria lest it might alienate the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, where Mahmud Abbas, and his failed team have shown little willingness to compromise for peace.&nbsp;Biden’s Washington also counseled Israel to be more restrained in responding to the PIJ and Hamas’s provocative terror attack on Israeli cities last May, which prompted Israel to react with Operation Guardians of the Wall.


	In fact,&nbsp;Reuters&nbsp;reported (April 7, 2021) that, “The Biden administration announced (that) it would&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinians-usa-blinken/u-s-restores-assistance-for-palestinians-to-provide-235-" target="_blank">provide $235 million in US aid to the Palestinians</a>, restarting funding for the United Nations agency supporting refugees (UNRWA) and restoring other assistance cut off by then-President Donald Trump.” &nbsp;UNWRA is nothing less than an incubator for Palestinian terrorism.&nbsp;At UNRWA schools, children are taught hate for Israel, Jews, and non-Muslims.&nbsp;The following month, while Hamas and the PIJ lobbed missiles at Israeli cities,&nbsp;Reuters&nbsp;reported (May 14, 2021) that, “The Biden administration notified Congress…that it will&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-05-14/us-sending-new-aid-to-palestinians-as-conflict-intensifies" target="_blank">send millions of dollars in US assistance to the Palestinians</a>&nbsp;aimed at promoting peace even as violence between the two sides rages… US calls for restraint, (and) that it will provide $10 million to Palestinian groups in the West Bank and Gaza…&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-05-14/us-sending-new-aid-to-palestinians-as-conflict-intensifies" target="_blank">The recipients of the aid were not named</a>.”


	Both Hamas and PIJ are trained, armed, and funded by Iran’s IRGC, and should the renewed nuclear deal with Iran be signed and implemented, Iran will once again receive billions of dollars in sanctions relief, and Russia, no doubt will also get a cut, which will help Moscow fund its war in Ukraine.


	In a March 2016 interview with the&nbsp;Atlantic Magazine, President Obama asserted that wars and chaos in the Middle East will not end until Saudi Arabia and Iran can find a way “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-obama/saudi-arabia-iran-must-shape-cold-peace-obama-says-idUSKCN0WC23A" target="_blank">to share the neighborhood</a>.” Obama had thought to create a balance of powers between Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.&nbsp;What he clearly missed is the fact that Iran wants to “wipe Israel off the map,” and in its hegemonic drive in the region, it is employing terror and instability throughout the region, not to mention its efforts to push the US out of the Middle East.&nbsp;President Biden is willingly going along with Iran’s desire to expel the US from the region, albeit, it is happening with Iranian rockets aimed at servicemen and US facilities in the region.

The Biden-Obama Administration’s 'Rebalancing' in the Middle East

President Joe Biden seems to be dedicated to the foreign policies of his former boss, President Barrack Obama.&nbsp;Like Obama, he is clearly bent on reviving

President Joe Biden’s most important job is to protect America from foreign threats, and not necessarily appease the left-wing of his Democratic party.&nbsp;The threat that China, Iran, and Russia pose to US security is considerable.&nbsp;While China and Russia are brute forces in the international arena, they have not caused American deaths in military-like operations. Iran, on the other hand, did.&nbsp;The Military Times&nbsp;reported (April 4, 2019), “The Pentagon…upping the official estimates of US troops in Iraq who were killed by Iranian-backed militias, now&nbsp;<a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/04/04/iran-killed-more-us-troops-in-iraq-than-prev" target="_blank">put that number at 603</a>.&nbsp;Those casualties were the result of explosively formed penetrators (EFP), other improvised explosive devices (IED), mortars, rocket propelled grenades (RPG), small arms, sniper and other attacks.”


	Following the drone strike that killed Maj. General Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, in January 2020, US President Donald Trump explained that Soleimani’s orders have “<a>Viciously wounded and murdered thousands of US troops</a>, including the planting of roadside bombs that maim and dismember their victims.”&nbsp;Trump also attributed to Soleimani the killing of an American contractor, Nawres Hamid. Trump pointed out that Soleimani was planning additional attacks on Americans when he landed in Baghdad.


	Lest we forget, on November 4, 1979, Islamist and radical Iranian students, inspired by the Ayatollah Khomeini, seized the US embassy in Tehran and took 50 American diplomats as hostages, and held them for 444 days.&nbsp;This was certainly an act of war against America, which the US has never really avenged, and currently, the Biden administration is simply appeasing.


	While negotiations on the renewal of the nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran were going on in Vienna, missiles from an Iranian base struck in the vicinity of the newly constructed US Consulate just outside Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), earlier this month. It is clear that the Ayatollah regime intended to hurt American lives and property.&nbsp;It did not however give pause to the US participation in the negotiations.&nbsp;It is compounded by the insulting setup whereby US representatives had been exiled to a separate hotel location in Vienna, as demanded by the Iranians.&nbsp;Moreover, Iran demanded the delisting of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) from the list of terrorist organizations.&nbsp;The combination of all of these facts, along with the continued cheating by the Iranians on their previous nuclear commitments, has diminished the US stature. All of that notwithstanding, the Biden administration’s eagerness for a deal with the leading state-sponsoring terrorist entity endangers American security, and that of its allies, including Israel, is inexplicable.


	Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the continued negotiations in Vienna over the renewed nuclear deal with Iran, “absurd.” He pointed out that signing the current nuclear agreement with Iran would provide the Ayatollahs with a nuclear arsenal. “It would also relieve sanctions and give them (Iranians) hundreds of billions of dollars to continue the terror that they waged yesterday (the attack on the US Consulate in Erbil), and wage every day throughout the Middle East and the world.”&nbsp;Netanyahu added, “This agreement is even worse than its predecessor, because in three years’ time, under this agreement, Iran will be a threshold nuclear state.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-says-its-absurd-iran-nuclear-talks-ongoing-after-erbil-attack/" target="_blank">It will have enough enriched uranium to create dozens and dozens of nuclear bombs</a>, and will have ICBM’s (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles) to deliver them to any place in the US.”


	Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, at a cabinet meeting earlier this month, reiterated the position the current Israeli government has taken with regard to the ongoing nuclear talks: “<a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-says-its-absurd-iran-nuclear-talks-ongoing-after-erbil-attack/" target="_blank">The disadvantages of the agreement far outweigh its advantages</a>.&nbsp;In any case, the agreement does not obligate the State of Israel in any way.”


	It seems that President Biden is driven by two commitments; the first is to his former boss, President Barrack Obama, and one of his major foreign policy “achievements,” namely the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the Iran nuclear deal.&nbsp;The second is to stem the current escalating energy costs that contribute to inflation, by enabling the Iranian regime to deliver its oil to the open markets.&nbsp;While domestically produced energy could easily meet the shortages, Biden is constrained by his “Green New Deal” proponents of leftist Democrats in Congress.&nbsp;In any case, whatever extra oil Iran could deliver to the market, China, not American consumers, will benefit from it.


	It is not, however, only Israeli and Arab Gulf leaders who believe that the current nuclear deal with Iran, and lifting the sanctions on Iran is misguided and dangerous. US Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) thinks so as well. Menendez articulated best, saying: “We cannot allow Iran to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/chair/release/chairman-menendez-we-cannot-allow-iran-to-threaten-u" target="_blank">threaten us into a bad deal</a>&nbsp;or an interim agreement that allows it to continue building its nuclear capacity.” He went on in his address to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (February 1, 2022), “I have been cautiously optimistic about the Biden administration’s initial efforts.&nbsp;I waited for the last year to see results.&nbsp;Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Secretary of State and others, senior members of the administration insisted they would look for a ‘longer and stronger’ agreement… &nbsp;However, a year later, I have yet to hear any parameters of ‘longer’ or ‘stronger’ terms or whether that is even a feasible prospect.&nbsp;And even when it seemed a constructive agreement might be possible last summer, upon taking office, the Raisi government abandoned all previous understandings and, as I mentioned, made absolutely clear that Iran’s ballistic missiles and regional proxy networks are ‘not negotiable.’ Moreover, at this point, we seriously have to ask what exactly are we trying to salvage?”


	Senator Menendez continued: “We cannot ignore Iran’s nefarious support for terrorism or accept threats to American interests and lives. We must welcome legitimate and verifiable peaceful uses of nuclear power, but remain true to our nonproliferation principles and our unyielding desire to build a more stable, safer, prosperous world for the American people and all peace-loving people to thrive.&nbsp;In order to do so, Iran cannot and must not possess a nuclear weapon.”


	Menendez added, “As someone who followed Iran’s nuclear ambition for the better part of three decades, I am here today to raise concerns about the current round of negotiations over the JCPOA, and Iran’s dangerously and rapidly escalating nuclear program that has put it on the brink of having enough material for a nuclear weapon… That’s how long most analysts have concluded it would take Iran to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb if they choose to do so.&nbsp;This isn’t a timetable we can accept.”


	Iran’s current regime is not just another ordinary state with the usual interests. It is a fanatical theocratic regime that has pledged to “wipe Israel off the map.”&nbsp;Its regime has sponsored parades of thousands shouting “death to America.”&nbsp;The Ayatollah's regime isn’t only a threat to America, Israel, Gulf Arabs, and the world; it is putting in danger its own people due to its messianic and jihadist dreams.&nbsp;The Iranian regime has abused its own people, including the execution of teenagers and minorities.&nbsp;This Ayatollahs regime is devoted to deception and terror, and it is practicing taqiyyah, which in modern terms means to conceal one’s intentions.&nbsp;Netanyahu exposed the Iranian lie about wanting nuclear energy for “peaceful” means; now Biden, as America’s commander-in-chief, must protect America by offering a credible military option against the threat of an eventual nuclear Iran.

Why Biden's Nuclear Deal With Iran is Dangerous for America

President Joe Biden’s most important job is to protect America from foreign threats, and not necessarily appease the left-wing of his Democratic party.&nbsp;

By accident, I recently stumbled upon an old interview I did with the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in March 1993, at the Kiriya in Tel Aviv.&nbsp;At the time, PM Rabin held two portfolios: that of Prime Minister and Defense Minister.&nbsp;As such, he preferred meeting people at the Kiriya, which is where the Defense Ministry is located.&nbsp;Rabin was intimately familiar and fond of his offices there, going back to his days as Chief-of-Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the Six Day War. &nbsp;


	Rabin’s no-nonsense, direct manner betrayed his sensitivity toward people.&nbsp;And, although direct and biting at times, his responses appeared genuine, revealing a true commitment to his beliefs.&nbsp;PM Rabin looked much younger than his age at that time (71), his ruddy cheeks said to be a result of his disciplined drinking (whiskey was his favorite).&nbsp;Some people considered PM Rabin as having a cool demeanor. I found him to be a superb conversationalist, and certainly not aloof. &nbsp;


	Following a short description of my radio talk show program – The American Mideast Forum on W-MCA New York City, home of the legendary host Barry Farber, we then ended the chit chat and I began our interview. &nbsp;


	Joseph Puder (JP): Mr. Prime Minister, do you believe that the Jewish settlements in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza are assets or liabilities? &nbsp;


	Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin: First, let me say that my preference is to see Israel as a Jewish, democratic state, living in peace and security.&nbsp;Also, I do not want to swallow as part of Israel 1.8 million Palestinians. The annexation of the territories outright, as the Likud proposes in its vision of Greater Israel is also the annexation of 1.8 million Palestinians, and that would make Israel a bi-national state. Therefore, realizing that the Palestinians in the territories are a distinct national entity politically, religiously, and ethnically, I do not want them to be part of Israel.&nbsp;Anyway, they would reject the idea, and we would have to impose ourselves upon them.


	Secondly, by no means am I ready to withdraw to the pre-Six Day War lines&nbsp;EVEN IN THE CONTEXT OF PEACE.&nbsp;A diplomatic peace is not yet&nbsp;real&nbsp;peace; it is an essential step in the peace process leading toward a&nbsp;real&nbsp;peace.&nbsp;There will be, however, a long lapse of time between the signing of peace treaties, or the diplomatic peace, and the onset of&nbsp;real&nbsp;peace, a peace that the average man on the street will consider as peace. In the time gap between diplomatic and&nbsp;real&nbsp;peace, we need defensible borders.&nbsp;Even though I do not want to absorb 1.8 million Palestinians and the territory on which they live, I want to make clear a few things: First, Jerusalem and its surroundings must remain united under Israeli sovereignty and our capital forever.&nbsp;Second, I want the Jordan River to be the defense line of Israel… &nbsp;


	JP: Do you mean the Jordan River or the Jordan Valley? &nbsp;


	PM Rabin: I mean both the River and the Valley. I am also referring to the Eastern slopes of the Samarian-Judean hills. As you know, the area is sparsely populated by Palestinians. &nbsp;


	JP: I believe, Mr. Rabin, that this was in essence the Allon Plan? &nbsp;


	PM Rabin:&nbsp;Yes,&nbsp;it is basically&nbsp;the Allon Plan. And thirdly, to continue where I left off, even in the context of peace, I will not go down from the Golan Heights, as far as peace with Syria is concerned.&nbsp;Therefore, on one hand, I oppose the position of the Likud and the Right Wing parties demanding all of the land.&nbsp;The question for me is not “territory for peace,” but rather maintaining an Israel that is at least 80% Jewish, and democratic.&nbsp;I do not want to see an Israel with a third of its population being Palestinian. Since I believe that Judaism and racism are in contradiction with one another, I reject the transfer of the Palestinians or an “apartheid” like situation of denying them equal rights. &nbsp;


	JP: If somebody was to tell you that the demographic time bomb that Yasser Arafat promised will not materialize because of the massive Jewish Aliyah from the former Soviet Union, would that settle the demographic question? &nbsp;


	PM Rabin: I never believed in the demographic issue.&nbsp;Everyone knows that since 1967, the basic demographic ratio within what used to be British Mandatory Palestine has not changed.&nbsp;Let us assume that another million Soviet Jews will are added on – it would still leave a third of the population being Palestinian. &nbsp;


	JP: Mr. Prime Minister, do you believe that peace with the Arab states is possible given their social, political, and economic system; can you make peace with dictatorships in the long run? &nbsp;


	PM Rabin: It will require first a change in the Arab society throughout the Arab world, and the achievement of a democratic system similar to the one in America, Europe, and Israel.&nbsp;For that we will have to wait fifty to one hundred years.&nbsp;In the coming thirty years there will be no peace.&nbsp;I believe, however, that peace is attainable regardless of the Arab mentality, society, or government. &nbsp;


	JP: Do you mean a peace that is no war or&nbsp;real&nbsp;peace? &nbsp;


	PM Rabin: That is why I said earlier that I distinguish between a diplomatic peace, or a peace treaty, and a&nbsp;real&nbsp;peace which means: the disappearance of hate, suspicion, and prejudice that has accumulated on both sides. This is why even in the context of a diplomatic peace (peace treaty), I would seek defensible boundaries. This is because I am aware of signing peace treaties with Arab countries that have no democracies and that there can be quick changes of policies, attitudes, and governments… At the same time, I also know that without diplomatic peace there can be no&nbsp;real&nbsp;peace. &nbsp;


	When I visit with German or French leaders, I ask them how long it took them to achieve&nbsp;real&nbsp;peace. Some of them would say 150 years, others said 300…to assume, however, that once we sign a peace treaty there would be no threat from the Arab states in the future would be a mistake. &nbsp;


	JP: If&nbsp;real&nbsp;peace is to reign in the region, and between Israel and its Arab neighbors, would it not require democratic institutions to emerge, and do you see any on the horizon? &nbsp;


	PM Rabin: I believe that you can sign a peace treaty with all the neighboring countries except Lebanon.&nbsp;It includes Syria, Jordan, and even the Palestinians. It will however be a diplomatic peace, and won’t be a “love affair.”&nbsp;And as you know, in international affairs you cannot find love.&nbsp;I also believe that a guarantee of any peace agreement will require a strong IDF and defensive borders.&nbsp;I remember once asking the former Secretary of State Dean Rusk (when I was ambassador to Washington), “what is the value of international agreements?” He replied: “It isn’t worth the paper it is written on unless it is backed by the kind of force that will make the other side consider the penalties too heavy to break the agreement.” &nbsp;


	In September 1993, Israel and the Palestinians signed the Oslo Accords and the following year peace with Jordan.&nbsp;Yitzhak Rabin would be have been amazed by the 2020 Abraham Accords between Israel, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan.&nbsp;At this time, it seems that peace with Bahrain and the UAE is the closest thing to a “love affair.” It is a warm peace, unlike the one with Egypt and Jordan.&nbsp;The Arab world though, still awaits the emergence of genuine democratic institutions.

My (Still Extremely Relevant) Interview With The Late PM Yitzhak Rabin

By accident, I recently stumbled upon an old interview I did with the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in March 1993, at the Kiriya in Tel Aviv.&nbsp;At the

World attention has been focused on the war in Ukraine between the invading Russian forces and the Ukrainian people defending their homeland’s independence and sovereign rights.&nbsp;This crisis has however overshadowed another critical situation in which the Iranian regime, like that of Putin’s Russia,&nbsp;is taking advantage of US President Joe Biden’s administration’s weakness.&nbsp;In Vienna, Austria, where the nuclear talks are being held between the five powers (Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia) and Iran, with the US being relegated by the Iranians to exile in a nearby hotel.&nbsp;The on and off talks have been going on for almost a year, with Iran dictating the terms.&nbsp;It is now finally reaching a climax, in which Iran will get $7 billion in sanction relief, while it keeps its centrifuges, and is allowed to develop its long-range ballistic missiles.&nbsp;No serious attempt has been made by the western powers participating in the Vienna talks, including the US (albeit, from a separate location), to demand from Iran the ceasing of its maligning activities in the Middle East, including the arming, training, funding, and commanding its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.&nbsp;The radical Ayatollahs regime in Tehran is the prime state-sponsor of terrorism worldwide.


	The audacity of the Iranian negotiators knows no limits; now they are demanding that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Ayatollah Khamenei’s praetorian guards, and his terrorist arm be removed from the US terrorist list.&nbsp;Iran’s arrogance, nevertheless, finds a sympathetic ear in Biden’s Vienna chief negotiator Robert Malley.&nbsp;Moreover, just like Putin’s Russia, Iran is capitalizing on Biden’s administration’s weakness, knowing that the Biden administration won’t resort to a military option, and that he wants a deal at all costs, even if it is a dangerous deal.&nbsp;Richard Nephew, the deputy to US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley, has resigned or was dismissed because he disagreed with Malley. Nephew favored a tougher approach to Iran due to his long experience in negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran.


	Actually, the only condition the Biden Administration appears to demand from Iran is the release of four American citizens taken as hostages by the Ayatollahs regime. It seems that the White House is looking with trepidation at the upcoming mid-term Congressional elections, and is desperately seeking some sort of win in foreign policy after the debacle in Afghanistan.&nbsp;The White House apparently fears a Republican congressional victory more than a nuclear Iran.


	It is wishful thinking to believe that at this juncture in history Iran would consider giving up its quest for nuclear arms.&nbsp;Witnessing the brutal assault of Russian forces on the Ukrainian people, the Iranian regime and others may have been reminded of the fact that in 1994, Ukraine gave up its thousands of nuclear weapons, and transferred them to Russia.&nbsp;This followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Under the agreement known as the Budapest Memorandum, in exchange for giving up its nuclear weapons, Ukraine sought and received guarantees from the US, Britain, and Russia, that its sovereignty and security will be assured.&nbsp;


	The Iranian regime had no intention of giving up on the idea of having nuclear weapons, and the Ukraine situation has only increased their determination.&nbsp;Iran has cheated all along by deceiving the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its inspectors.&nbsp;They have denied IAEA inspectors access to Iranian military facilities, as well as constructed unreported nuclear facilities.&nbsp;Some of these facilities were exposed by Iranian defectors.&nbsp;In January 2018, Israeli Mossad agents, in a most daring operation, lifted Iran’s nuclear secrets.&nbsp;These secrets proved without a doubt that, “Despite Iranian insistence that its (nuclear) program was for peaceful purposes, the country (Iran) had worked in the past (JP: before and during the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action - JCPOA 2015 agreement between Iran and the world powers)&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/us/politics/iran-israelmossad--nuclear.html" target="_blank">to systematically assemble everything it needed to produce Atomic weapons</a>.”


	One can easily assume that the Ayatollahs already have an assembled bomb, and if not, they have the intention and the wherewithal to assemble it.&nbsp;Given these circumstances, it is incomprehensible as to why the US and its western partners would lift the sanctions imposed on Iran by the US and the UN. Moreover, providing Iran with the extra cash flow that would enable the nefarious Iranian regime to fund its terror operations, posing an existential threat to Israel and to the Sunni-Arab Gulf states is sheer insanity…


	Frankly, the negotiations have no purpose since the new deal sunset date of 2025 would clear the way for the Ayatollahs to legally be able to develop massive industrial-level centrifuge capacity in less than three years.&nbsp;After 2025, the breakout time for a nuclear bomb may be six to twelve months, and that is only on paper…


	US Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), told CNN-TV that he thinks the P5+1 negotiators in Vienna are headed for ‘a good bad deal.’ He added, “And what is the problem with that? The problem with that is the administration said at the beginning that I totally embrace is that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/in-the-news/menendez-if-iran-deal-is-bad-a" target="_blank">no deal is better than a bad deal</a>.&nbsp;I don’t think there is such a thing as a good bad deal.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/in-the-news/menendez-if-iran-deal-is-bad-a" target="_blank">It is either a good deal or a bad deal</a>.”


	According to&nbsp;Reuters News&nbsp;(February 25, 2022), “<a href="http://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/senior-iranian-cleric-demands-removal-banking..." target="_blank">Iran will continue to enrich uranium at a 20% purity even after the sanctions on it are lifted, and the 2015 nuclear deal with the world powers is revived</a>, Iranian news agencies quoted the country’s nuclear chief as saying.” This would clearly exceed the 2015 JCPOA agreement that set the level of uranium enrichment at only 3.67%, and the JCPOA deal also declared specifically that Iran cannot conduct any enrichment at the Fordow nuclear facility.


	If the US succumbs to Iran’s demands, it is certain that China and Russia will support such an agreement.&nbsp;Both these countries stand to benefit from such a one-sided deal in which the US and its western allies get nothing in return. Should Iran be allowed to bring its oil to the open market, which will not fill global demand, it will likely go to China.&nbsp;The consequences of Iran being a ‘threshold nuclear state’ for the US and the free world would be however most severe.&nbsp;The Middle East will more than likely become nuclear.&nbsp;Saudi Arabia and possibly the UAE will purchase a bomb from Pakistan, and others such as Turkey will seek one as well.


	The impending agreement between the world powers and Iran at the nuclear negotiations in Vienna prompted Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to react.&nbsp;Speaking (March 1, 2022) at the Mossad headquarters he declared, “<a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-699013" target="_blank">The agreement does not oblige us</a>, and the date in another two-and-a-half years that allows Iran to install countless centrifuges certainly does not obligate us.”&nbsp;He added, “<a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-699013" target="_blank">The sun will never set on the security of Israel and the good of its citizens</a>.”

U.S. Surrender in Vienna

World attention has been focused on the war in Ukraine between the invading Russian forces and the Ukrainian people defending their homeland’s independence and

To most Israelis, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan represents nothing less than an antisemite.&nbsp;He has attacked Israel many times and in numerous forums. During Israel’s operation Guardian of the Walls (May 2021) against Hamas’ terror missile attack against Israeli cities, Erdogan accused Israel of “terrorism” against Palestinians, adding, “<a href="https://www.dw.com/en/us-condemns-antisemitic-remarks-by-erdogan/a-57576000" target="_blank">It is in their nature</a>.”&nbsp;Erdogan went on to say, “<a href="https://www.dw.com/en/us-condemns-antisemitic-remarks-by-erdogan/a-57576000" target="_blank">They are murderers to the point that they kill children who are five or six years old.&nbsp;They are only satisfied by sucking their blood.</a>" Erdogan’s libelous, malicious, and bogus accusations prompted the US State Department spokesperson Ned Price, to issue a statement saying, “The US strongly condemns President Erdogan’s antisemitic comments regarding the Jewish people and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dw.com/en/us-condemns-antisemitic-remarks-by-erdogan/a-57576000" target="_blank">finds them reprehensible</a>.”


	Erdogan inherited his antisemitic cues from his mentor, Necmettin Erbakan, the founder and leader of the Islamist Welfare Party.&nbsp;Although Erdogan’s hostility toward Israel and Jews didn’t have the same level of obsession as Erbakan’s, and he (Erdogan) has had a greater propensity for political pragmatism, nevertheless,&nbsp;over time when discussing Zionism, Jews, or Israel, his speeches resembled that of Erbakan’s in their antisemitic tone and hue.&nbsp;


	On January 2009, at the Davos, Switzerland World Economic Forum, a panel discussion on the recent Israeli operation against Hamas in Gaza in the aftermath of Hamas’ rocket attacks against Israel, with then Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and Israeli President Shimon Peres, the former (Erdogan) charged Peres, by saying: “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/world/europe/30clash.html" target="_blank">When it comes to killing, you know well how to kill</a>.”&nbsp;This crude charge came from the mouth of the leader of the radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood (MB) movement.&nbsp;Hamas, being closely embraced and protected by Erdogan is the Gaza branch of the MB.


	In a 2014 speech before the Washington-based&nbsp;Council on Foreign Relations, Erdogan defended himself against the accusation of being an antisemite.&nbsp;He stated, “<a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/erdogan-rebuffs-anti-semite-claims-but%20lashes-israel-for-massacre/" target="_blank">Holding a state responsible that massacres is not antisemitism</a>.&nbsp;It is not antisemitism either to criticize an administration that massacres innocent babies and children in their homes, mosques, hospitals, schools, beaches, and parks without discrimination.&nbsp;Our criticism is not directed at the Jews at all.&nbsp;It is solely directed at the Israeli administration and its policies…”


	Erdogan has repeatedly falsified facts.&nbsp;The Turkish Islamist flotilla and its main ship&nbsp;MV Mavi Marmara, set out to break the Israeli blockade of the terrorist Hamas controlled Gaza, and defied Israeli naval orders to turn back.&nbsp;When Israeli commandos boarded the ship, they were attacked by Turkish Islamist activists with iron bars and knifes, and one of them seized a gun from an Israeli and aimed to kill him.&nbsp;To defend their lives from mortal danger, during the struggle, nine Turks were killed and 10 Israeli commandos wounded.&nbsp;Another Turk subsequently died.&nbsp;It was clearly a case of Turkish provocation and violence, which the Israelis needed to respond to in order to defend their lives. In 2020, following President Donald Trump’s decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Erdogan hosted a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and called for jihad against Israel.&nbsp;


	Given Turkey’s economic troubles, the free fall of the Turkish currency - the Lira, and its political isolation, added to Iranian proxies in Iraq attacking a Turkish base near Mosul, Iraq. Erdogan is on a quest to re-arrange Turkey’s geopolitical situation, and heal its economic ills before the election scheduled next year.&nbsp;His recent visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had clear economic as well as political ends.&nbsp;Israel is seen by Erdogan as another beneficial source of economic gain, not least in the realm of tourism.&nbsp;But with open eyes at the emerging Sunni-Muslim and Israel alliance against a hegemonic Iran, Erdogan began to throw hints about rapprochement with Israel.&nbsp;He needed to find the appropriate contact in Israel.&nbsp;While his relationship with former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government was acerbic and getting worse, the new government in Jerusalem, especially a new president, provided a possible opening. Erdogan is pleased in particular with the participation of the Islamist Arab party Ra’am in the Israeli coalition government.&nbsp;Ra’am is affiliated with Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).


	In June 2021, on the election of Isaac Herzog as Israel’s president, Erdogan called to congratulate him.&nbsp;He then called Herzog again to express his condolences on the death of Herzog’s mother.&nbsp;Herzog, on his part, called Erdogan to wish him a speedy recovery and get well, after Erdogan was infected with the coronavirus.&nbsp;Erdogan has subsequently invited Herzog to visit him in Ankara.&nbsp;The Turkish media has confirmed that Herzog will be visiting Turkey on March 9-10, 2022.&nbsp;Erdogan’s top adviser, Ibrahim Kalin, and the Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal, came to Israel to prepare for Herzog’s visit and discuss relations between the two countries.&nbsp;


	The overtures Erdogan has made toward Herzog have spurred a certain momentum in the cooperation between Israel’s Mossad and the Turkish intelligence agencies, as well as between their respective foreign and defense ministries.&nbsp;On February 11, 2022, the Turkish media reported that Turkey’s national intelligence agency – MIT, thwarted an Iranian assassination attempt on an Israeli businessman named Yair Geller.


	The convergence of Israeli-Turkish relations occurred even while Erdogan was fuming with invectives against Israel.&nbsp;In the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Israel and Turkey found themselves on the side of Azerbaijan, while Iran and Russia sided with Armenia.&nbsp;Israel and Turkey both have close relations with the Central-Asian states of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan; all of these “stans” were former soviet republics, and all belong to the Turkic family of nations. Turkey, like Israel, is concerned with Iran’s role in Syria, and its hegemonic drive in the region.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;


	Gas is certainly an economic factor in the apparent budding ties between Turkey and Israel.&nbsp;In recent years, Israel has become a major natural gas power.&nbsp;It is currently supplying natural gas to Jordan and Egypt, as well as to Lebanon through a third party.&nbsp;The US has encouraged Israel to supply gas to Turkey in order to limit its dependence on Russian gas, especially now when the US and its NATO allies have decided to impose severe sanctions on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine, and the gross violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty.&nbsp;Erdogan would be happy to end Turkey’s dependence on its historical enemy -Russia.&nbsp;Erdogan would love to convince the Israelis to ship its gas through a direct pipeline to Turkey, which he would then extend to Europe.


	Reuters&nbsp;reported (February 8, 2022) that Turkey will not abandon Palestinian support for closer ties with Israel. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters, “Any step we take with Israel regarding our relations,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkey-says-it-will-not-abandon-palestinian-" target="_blank">any normalization, will not be at the expense of the Palestinian cause, like some other countries</a>.”&nbsp;Just as Erdogan is unlikely to close Hamas’ offices in Turkey, Israel will not abandon its close ties with Cyprus and Greece.


	So, will the leopard change his spots? Israelis are skeptical. Many believe that Erdogan is trying to drive a wedge between Israel and its Hellenic allies Cyprus and Greece.&nbsp;Others contend that Erdogan’s supposedly ‘new approach’ is a temporary result of his deteriorating economy and his political standing, which is in free fall.&nbsp;The only way he can convince Israel that he has changed is by cutting his ties with Hamas.

Erdogan and Herzog: a Budding Romance?

To most Israelis, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan represents nothing less than an antisemite.&nbsp;He has attacked Israel many times and in numerous

The Biden administration debacle in Afghanistan has convinced America’s enemies of the administration’s weakness and vulnerability. The timing of Vladimir Putin’s march on Ukraine is undoubtedly connected to the perception in Moscow of Washington’s lack of will to engage in a confrontation. Communist China is astutely waiting for the right time to seize Taiwan.&nbsp;Should Moscow achieve its objectives, Xi Jinping, China’s dictator would follow Putin’s example and act, knowing full well that the Biden administration would pay lip service to the violation of Taiwanese sovereignty, and perhaps demand UN sanctions, but ultimately, Washington would live with the new reality.


	The radical and theocratic Ayatollahs also sense an opportunity to take advantage of the Biden administration’s willingness to have a deal at all costs, and thus have been successfully pressing their demands, and it appears that the Biden administration might cave in.&nbsp;Tehran also realized that there will not be military consequences from the US with their continued advancement toward a nuclear bomb. Iran continues to develop its ballistic missiles range and payload, to possibly carry a nuclear device. At the same time, the Iranians have continued their adventurism and terror throughout the region.&nbsp;Tehran also considered the fact that North Korea has never suffered the military consequences of becoming nuclear.&nbsp;Economic boycotts by the West are clearly no longer a deterrent against Iran, North Korea, China, or Russia.


	In the Middle East, the Sunni-Arab Gulf states have already perceived the Biden administration’s withdrawal from the region both as a sign of weakness and thus increasingly viewing the US as a questionable protector.&nbsp;On his recent (February 3, 2022) trip to Bahrain, Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with his Bahraini counterpart.&nbsp;It is a Security Cooperation Agreement, an expression of Israel’s interest in forming a NATO-like alliance in the region, meant to be an anti-Iranian regional alliance, in the same way NATO served as an anti-Soviet Union alliance.&nbsp;In both cases, the idea is to forestall Iranian expansionism in the region, to counter its aggressive and maligning force.&nbsp;Bahrain is a small nation with a majority Shiite-Muslim population, but ruled by Sunni-Muslim monarchy that has been under periodic threats from Iran.&nbsp;In the past, Iran claimed Bahrain as part of its Fars Province.


	In late November of 2021, Gantz visited Rabat, Morocco, to sign a similar agreement he had signed in Manama, Bahrain.&nbsp;In late January 2022, Gantz traveled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with an Israeli delegation of senior security experts to examine how Israel could help the Emiratis with an advance warning system, and the interception of missiles and drones. The Houthis, Iran’s proxies, had previously attacked the UAE with drones launched from Yemen.&nbsp;It stands to reason that similar visits to Saudi Arabia took place, albeit clandestinely.&nbsp;As the custodians of Islam’s holiest sites of Mecca and Medina, the Saudis are hesitant to establish open diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.&nbsp;Still, their regional rivalry with the radical and revolutionary Iran, and the historical animosity of Sunni-Muslim Arabia toward Shiite Iran, makes an anti-Iranian security cooperation agreement with Israel rather likely.&nbsp;Nevertheless, the Biden administration has initiated a rapprochement between the Saudis and Iran as a way to facilitate the talks with Iran on the renewal of the nuclear deal.&nbsp;


	While Israel has proven its military and intelligence capabilities on multiple occasions, Israel does not have the global capabilities and reach that the US possesses as a superpower.&nbsp;But, as the US apparent departure from the Middle East nears, and as it is re-focusing on China and Asia Pacific, a regional Middle Eastern alliance, anchored in Israel and inclusive of the moderate Sunni-Muslim states constitutes a force multiplier, which Iran undoubtedly fears.


	Omar Rahman, in a&nbsp;Brookings Report&nbsp;(July 21, 2021) wrote: “The UAE&nbsp;<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-emergence-of-gcc-israel-relations-in-a-changing-middle-east/" target="_blank">views Israel as a formidable regional power that shares its views</a>&nbsp;(JP- The view is that Iran is the cause of regional instability, and together with Turkey is meddling and intervening in the region. And, Israel also shares with the UAE concerns over the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates, backed by Turkey and Qatar.&nbsp;For Israel, one of these affiliates is Hamas in Gaza) and is willing to act forcibly to counter regional adversaries.”


	Iran’s apparent strategy seeks to push the US out of Iraq, and ultimately out of the region.&nbsp;In the Ayatollahs view, the exit of the US from the region is an essential condition for tipping the balance of power in the Middle East in their favor, and it is imperative for Tehran’s quest to impose its hegemony in the region.&nbsp;It is therefore vital for the US to “deputize” Israel as the security anchor for its regional partners, i.e., the Arab Gulf states in particular, while Washington is dealing with its greater challenges, namely China and Russia.


	A NATO-like Middle Eastern alliance of Israel and moderate Sunni-Arab states, especially the Gulf states, should also include the US, albeit, without necessarily the commitment embedded in NATO’s&nbsp;Article 5, which calls for collective security.&nbsp;Few Americans would support a US commitment in such a volatile region as the Middle East.&nbsp;The inclusion of the US in such an alliance would strengthen it significantly, and would have a deterrent effect on expansionist and terror-sponsoring states like Iran.&nbsp;Just like NATO served as a deterrent against the Soviet Union and now Russia’s expansionism in Europe, the Middle Eastern alliance would serve the same purpose against Iran.


	The Trump administration had planned to establish a Middle East Strategic Alliance – anchored by a united Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), to advance security, prosperity, and stability. Now, however, as the Abraham Accords have brought about close economic and security relations between Bahrain, UAE, Morocco, and Israel, it is essential the Jewish state play a major role in such an alliance.&nbsp;With Israel involved in the alliance, the prospects of materializing such objectives as security, prosperity, and stability are greatly enhanced.&nbsp;Egypt and Jordan might also be included in such a strategic alliance.


	Maj. General (Res.) Amos Gilad, executive director of Reichman University Institute for Policy and Strategy-IPS has written under the headline, “The American Withdrawal from Afghanistan: Lessons and Ramifications for Israel,”&nbsp;(August 2021), pointing out that the “American withdrawal from Afghanistan is a formative event whose projection strategically will reverberate for many years to come.&nbsp;Israel must prepare immediately, together with the Biden administration, for challenges that are around the corner – first and foremost, due to the ‘tail wind’ the Afghanistan withdrawal has created for extremist forces in the region; and parallel to this, leveraging&nbsp;<a href="https://www.runi.ac.il/en/research/ips/pages/insights/insights-23-8-21-ips.aspx" target="_blank">opportunities to upgrade relations and cooperation with Arab states</a>.”


	Maj. Gen. Gilad’s apparent conclusion confirms the idea that Israel, in coordination with the Biden administration, must carry out the vision of a Middle East Strategic Alliance anchored by Israel.

Can Israel Anchor a Defense Alliance of Moderate Arab States?

The Biden administration debacle in Afghanistan has convinced America’s enemies of the administration’s weakness and vulnerability. The timing of Vladimir

The Jewish state’s dream of warm peace with its Arab neighbors has eluded it for more than 72 years.&nbsp;In September 2020, President Donald Trump helped engineer the Abraham Accords between Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.&nbsp;The very treaty signing on the White House lawn projected human warmth, and signaled a warm peace.&nbsp;Subsequently, Sudan and Morocco joined the normalization of relations with Israel.


	It is true that peace, as opposed to war, came much earlier than September 2020. Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979 and with Jordan in 1994.&nbsp;These peace treaties, however, were essentially between governments, coldly exchanging territory for peace.&nbsp;Israel gave up the entire Sinai Peninsula; it received a cold peace in return. The late Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak avoided visiting Israel.&nbsp;In his 30-year reign as Egypt’s dictator, he visited Israel only once, and only for three hours, to attend the funeral of the assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.&nbsp;He did not encourage Israeli-Egyptian trade or tourism.&nbsp;


	Although Mubarak fulfilled the security commitments under the Camp David Accords, he deliberately perpetuated the cold peace. Mubarak was motivated by the desire to reduce Egypt’s massive military burden, and cement Egypt’s relationship with the US.&nbsp;He also sought to return Egypt to the bosom of the Arab world that expelled Egypt from the Arab League and leadership in the Arab world following Anwar Sadat’s Camp David Peace Accords with Israel. Israelis were not welcomed in Cairo, and the majority of the Egyptian population has been hostile to Israel and peace.&nbsp;The Egyptian media in particular has displayed frequent bursts of anti-Semitism. Israel’s consolation was that it didn’t have to allocate burdensome resources in manpower and treasure.


	King Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, unlike Mubarak, was well disposed toward peace with Israel. The strong presence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, and the majority Palestinian population in the country, placed Hussein in an odd position.&nbsp;As part of the peace treaty with Jordan, Israel recognized Jordan’s sovereignty over the Naharayim/Baqura area including the Peace Island, and the Tzofar/Al Ghamr area.&nbsp;Once again, Israelis rushed to visit Jordan, especially the majestic Petra, while Jordan sent workers to earn money in Israel (mostly in Eilat).


	The passing of King Hussein brought to power his son Abdullah II, whose mother was English. It compelled Abdullah to display a lukewarm attitude toward Israel, and oftentimes to be critical of Israel and supportive of the West Bank Palestinians.&nbsp;Ironically, Israel’s military prowess safeguards Jordan’s monarchy’s survival.


	In Egypt, Mubarak’s departure in February 2011 (as a result of the so-called Arab Spring) brought to power Mohammad Morsi in June 2012, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, and an ally of Hamas in Gaza. He was deposed by General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was elected President in May 2014. According to Haisam Hassanein, an Associate Fellow at the Washington Institute, “Despite broadening official cooperation between Egypt and Israel, he (al-Sisi) is increasingly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/sisis-anti-israel-rhetoric-new-speeches-old-problems" target="_blank"> embracing the old approach of telling Egyptians that Israel is the enemy.”</a>&nbsp;This tendency of vilifying Israel domestically, and allowing the Egyptian media to demonize Israel, is contrasted by increased cooperation between Egypt and Israel on combating terrorism in the Sinai Peninsula and handling Hamas in the Gaza Strip.&nbsp;In short, there has been no people-to-people relationship between Egyptians and Israelis.


	Until September 2020, the relationship between the Emiratis and Israel was concealed.&nbsp;Now, the open and warm interaction between Emiratis, Bahrainis, and Israelis is exceptional. Data shows that trade between the UAE and Israel jumped from $51 million in the seven months of 2020, to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/israel-s-trade-with-uae-and-other-arab-states-surg" target="_blank">$614 million</a>&nbsp;over the same period in 2021.&nbsp;According to figures cited by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, trade between Israel and Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa has dramatically accelerated in 2021, following normalization, and grew in the first seven months of 2021 by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/israel-s-trade-with-uae-and-other-arab-states-surg" target="_blank">234%.</a>


	On September 13, 2021, UAE Economy Minister Abdulla Bin Touq said that the UAE was projecting to grow economic ties with Israel to the tune of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/israel-s-trade-with-uae-and-other-arab-states-surg" target="_blank">$1 trillion</a>&nbsp;over the next decade.&nbsp;He pointed out that since normalization the UAE has signed over 60 Memorandums of Understanding with Israel, and is expecting an influx of trade over the next couple of years, primarily in defense, energy, and food security. He added, 
	"<a href="https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/israel-s-trade-with-uae-and-other-arab-states-surg" target="_blank">We have $500 to $700 million dollars in bilateral trade happening</a>, we have funds of billions of dollars that have been announced jointly between the two countries.&nbsp;We are moving into so many areas of economic opportunities."


	Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company is inking a $1billion purchase of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/israel-s-trade-with-uae-and-other-arab-states-surg" target="_blank">22 percent</a>&nbsp;stake in Israel’s Delek Drilling’s East Mediterranean Tamar natural gas field.&nbsp;It will thus become the largest deal between the UAE and Israel. Turkey’s&nbsp;TRT World&nbsp;reported that, “Both countries have had&nbsp;<a href="https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/israel-s-trade-with-uae-and-other-arab-states-surg" target="_blank">high-level trade delegations</a>&nbsp;explore opportunities for investment in technology, aviation, education, telecom, and tourism over the past year.”&nbsp;And, in March 2021, the UAE announced a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/israel-s-trade-with-uae-and-other-arab-states-surg" target="_blank">$12 billion</a>&nbsp;investment fund for strategic sectors in Israel, including energy manufacturing, water, space, healthcare, and agri-tech.&nbsp;In addition, Emirati and Israeli ministers pledged military and defense cooperation.


	The relationship between Israel and the UAE isn’t limited to trade, tourism, and defense (Iran being a common threat to both countries as well as to Bahrain). There have been ongoing cultural exchanges. The Emirati and Bahraini governments are cultivating and supporting their growing Jewish communities. The Israeli pavilion in the Dubai Expo is a major attraction, and getting lots of Emirati visitors.


	In an opinion piece by Dr. Ali al-Nuaimi, Chairman of the Defense Affairs, Interior, and Foreign Relations Committee of the UAE Federal National Council, in Israel’s&nbsp;Ynet-News, writes: “<a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hytrrwrrk" target="_blank">Normalization agreements are a bridge to a future where we find common solutions, not divisive wars, and it is time to take the narrative beyond the headlines in order to bring peace not only to the signatories, but to the entire region</a>.”&nbsp;Dr. al-Nuaimi who brought with him a delegation of UAE parliamentarians as guests of the Knesset, added, “I am excited to meet my fellow parliamentarians in the Knesset and build on the key role we have in regional and global diplomacy, far beyond the limitations of national borders and internal politics.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-695771" target="_blank">True diplomacy is found in people-to-people interactions</a>…”&nbsp;&nbsp;


	On February 3, 2022, Israel and Bahrain signed a security cooperation agreement, the first between Israel and a Gulf state.&nbsp;Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz signed on behalf of Israel in Manama, Bahrain’s capital.&nbsp;He also held talks with King Hamed bin Isa al-Khalifa.&nbsp;Again, as with the UAE, cultural and inter-personal ties are very much part of the normalization with Bahrain.&nbsp;King Hamed Global Center is promoting religious freedom, interfaith dialogue, and peaceful co-existence, as it works with Israeli institutions.&nbsp;Bahrain has a small and historic Jewish community, and its former ambassador to the US, Houda Nonoo, is Jewish.


	The Bahraini foreign Minister and the Undersecretary for International Relations visited Israel.&nbsp;The latter’s four-day visit included visiting civil society organizations, universities and research institutes, as well as joining Israel’s Foreign Ministry director-general in scuba diving.&nbsp;Reuters&nbsp;reported that Israel expects&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-bahrain/israel-expects-220-million-in-non-defence-trade-with-bahrain-in-20" target="_blank">$220 million</a>&nbsp;in non-defense trade with Bahrain in 2021.


	Unlike Egypt and Jordan, whose wars with Israel created bad blood and mistrust on both sides, the UAE and Bahrain have never engaged in military action against Israel.&nbsp;Hence interpersonal relations are more natural.&nbsp;For Israel, that just might mean - on these realms - the kind of peace Israelis have prayed for. Time will tell.

Israel's Peace With Some Arab Neighbors?

The Jewish state’s dream of warm peace with its Arab neighbors has eluded it for more than 72 years.&nbsp;In September 2020, President Donald Trump helped

The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson II, the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA), delivered a hateful and antisemitic sermon on the day one honors the memory of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The fact that Herbert Nelson II is black helped spare him criticism from the politically correct liberal media, who would normally castigate such hate-filled false and malicious libel if given by a white person. Nelson’s poisonous words were morally repugnant, factually false, and certainly worthy of collective denouncement.&nbsp;He stated: “The continued occupation in Palestine/Israel&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jpost.com/christian-news/article-694190" target="_blank">is 21st-century slavery</a>&nbsp;and should be abolished immediately.”&nbsp;He then added, “I would also hope that the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jpost.com/christian-news/article-694190" target="_blank">Jewish community in the US would influence the call to join the US government in ending the immoral enslavement</a>.” &nbsp;


	This shameless blood-libel from a religious person can only serve to fuel antisemitism and division rather than bring about unity and amity, especially in today’s divided America.&nbsp;This spiritual leader chose to promote hate by inferring that Israeli-Jews are “enslavers.” Rather than focus on Martin Luther King’s great message of judging people “not by the color of their skin but by the content of one’s character,” was lost on Herbert Nelson II, who maligned the Jewish people and the Jewish state.&nbsp;Instead of calling for “love thy Neighbor,” or as Jesus might have said “love thy enemies,” Nelson insinuated that American Jews secretly control the moves of politicians and manipulate world events to their advantage.&nbsp;He must have taken a page from the antisemitic classic&nbsp;“The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,”&nbsp;the lie that wouldn’t die. &nbsp;


	In attempting to make a comparison between the legitimate case of black slavery in America and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Nelson simply showed his ignorance of historical facts and his bias toward Israel and Jews.&nbsp;Palestinian-Arabs are not slaves, while the Muslim invasion, conquest, and conversion of the hitherto Christians and Jews in Palestine (a name given by the Roman conquerors to the Land of Israel) did enslave the people living under its sword.&nbsp;More importantly, few other people have had as many opportunities to assert their self- determination as did the Palestinian-Arabs.&nbsp;In 1937, the Peel Commission offered the Palestinian-Arabs 75% of Mandatory Palestine.&nbsp;They rejected it and chose terror and murder of innocent civilians, both Jewish-Palestinians and Palestinians-Arab. In 1947, the UN Partition Plan offered the Palestinian-Arabs a state once again, but they chose instead to annihilate the nascent Jewish state that did accept the Partition Plan.&nbsp;From 1948-1967, Jordan occupied the West Bank, yet, the Palestinians never demanded self-determination and statehood from Jordan.&nbsp;In fact, Palestinian leaders demanded that the Arab states deny citizenship to the Palestinian refugees in their states, and preferred to keep their people in miserable refugee camps as a propaganda tool.&nbsp;At the same time, the Jewish state of Israel absorbed a much larger number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands where Jews lived for millenniums. &nbsp;


	Following the Oslo Accords in 1993, Yasser Arafat and Mahmud Abbas, both Presidents of the Palestinian Authority (PA)&nbsp;had several opportunities to establish their sovereign state - they declined.&nbsp;In July 2000, at the Camp David Summit presided over by US President Bill Clinton, with the participation of Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak,&nbsp;the Israeli PM offered Arafat far reaching concessions and Palestinian statehood in return for “an end to the conflict."&nbsp;Arafat rejected it and chose instead to launch the Second Intifada, a terror campaign that cost the lives of over 1,000 Israeli civilians.&nbsp;President Clinton held Arafat responsible for the failure of the talks.&nbsp;It prompted Clinton to say, “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Camp_David_Summit#:~:text=Clinton%20blamed%20Arafat%20after%20the,failure%20to%20come%20to%20an" target="_blank">I regret that in 2000, Arafat missed an opportunity to bring that nation (Palestine) into being.”</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In 2008, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert was prepared to go even further than Barak; still, Abbas wouldn’t sign on a peace deal and accept statehood. &nbsp;


	Describing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as enslavement is a modern-day blood libel, which historically led to violence against Jews, particularly as it came in the wake of a terrorist attack on a Texas synagogue.&nbsp;We can now add “slavery” to the list of demonstrably false libels that progressives have been repeating about Israel: “settler-colonialist,” “genocidal,” “killing and torturing children,” “apartheid,” and “ethnically cleansing” Palestinians. &nbsp;


	The Jewish state has in fact displayed incredible humanism in the face of Palestinian murderous terror.&nbsp;Bassem Eid, a former Palestinian Muslim refugee, and currently a human rights activist, has pointed out to this reporter that, “We Palestinians do not need an identity, we know who we are. We Palestinians need dignity, and that comes with being able to support our families.&nbsp;Israel has provided us with high paying jobs so that we are able to support our families.&nbsp;Conversely, the PA leadership (not to mention Hamas) cares only for itself, with little regard for the Palestinian people’s welfare.”&nbsp;He added, “The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and the “progressives” are hypocritical and destructive.&nbsp;They have destroyed economic opportunities for Palestinians by boycotting the Soda Stream Company, which provided Palestinians great opportunities and equal pay.” &nbsp;


	No mainline Protestant denomination is more clearly associated with anti-Israelism than the PCUSA.&nbsp;Some of its actions crossed the line into antisemitism, most notably its publication of “Zionism Unsettled,” which distorted Israeli and Jewish history.&nbsp;The American Jewish Committee (AJC), pointed out that “<a href="http://ajc.org/news/the-presbyterian-church-has-been-hijacked-by-anti-israel-activists" target="_blank">The sheer volume of anti-Israel resolutions discussed and debated reveal a deep animus (against Israel) that needs to be called out</a>.” Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC’s director of interreligious relations continued, “Within the PCUSA, a small but vocal minority of activists have managed to keep anti-Israelism on the agenda through eight general assemblies (GA) spanning 14 years. This faction has its own committee, dubbed #12- Middle East issues,&nbsp;<a href="http://ajc.org/news/the-presbyterian-church-has-been-hijacked-by-anti-israel-activists" target="_blank">allowing a concentration of Israel-denunciatory time and energy through the weeklong GA</a>."


	The late PCUSA pastor, Rev. Dr. Bill Harter, once explained to this reporter that the PCUSA missionaries who go to the Middle East return to the Louisville, Kentucky headquarters of the PCUSA having adopted the Palestinian narrative.&nbsp;Being posted to the headquarters they find nothing better to occupy their energy than to generate anti-Israel resolutions.&nbsp;Rev. Dr. Bill Harter was the co-founder of the Presbyterians for Middle East Peace (PFMEP).&nbsp;While the Stated Clerk and the PCUSA headquarters have adopted an anti-Israel and anti-Jewish posture, the majority of local presbyteries throughout the US have close and friendly relations with the Jewish communities in their area, and oppose the false and hateful words of the Stated Clerk, and the anti-Israel resolutions.&nbsp;On its website, the PFMEP has in fact, “Condemned the Stated Clerk’s statement on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day <a>for being offensive to the Jewish community…</a>”


	Instead of apologizing, Herbert Nelson II made assertions without merit or fact.&nbsp;He charged that Israel confiscated Palestinian land in Judea and Samaria.&nbsp;The fact is that the Israeli High Court of Justice has gone out of its way to protect private Palestinian land.&nbsp;However, Israel has every right to use state/public land.&nbsp;Regarding his charge of “Israeli barriers to access Palestinian holy places of worship,” Israel erected barriers to prevent Palestinian terrorists from murdering Israeli citizens.&nbsp;Herbert Nelson has failed to cite a single case of innocent Palestinian worshippers denied access to the al-Aqsa mosque or any other place of worship.&nbsp;Religious freedom in Israel is sacrosanct, which was not the case under Jordanian rule.

Top Presbyterian Church Official Delivers Anti-Semitic Sermon on MLK Day

The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson II, the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA), delivered a hateful and antisemitic sermon

Toni Nissi is an old friend and a proud Lebanese patriot.&nbsp;While being an engineer by profession, he has devoted his time and energy contributing to the betterment of his country.&nbsp;Toni is President of the Committee for the UN Security Council Resolutions on Lebanon, and Secretary General of the Council for the Cedar Revolution. Toni Nissi is an experienced lobbyist, skilled in International Relations and advocacy.&nbsp;He works on many sensitive files with the UN Security Council (UNSC), the US, and the European Union.&nbsp;He lobbied for the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act, and UNSC Resolutions 1559, 1680, and 1701.&nbsp;He is currently the Vice President of the International Christian Union in charge of Middle Eastern affairs. He resides with his family in East Beirut.&nbsp;


	Joseph Puder (JP): To what extent do Lebanese feel their connection to Lebanon's Phoenician past?&nbsp;


	Toni Nissi&nbsp;(TN):&nbsp;Lebanon used to be a part of Phoenicia for a long period of time.&nbsp;Perhaps the closest community to be identified with the Phoenicians are the Aramaic Christians.&nbsp;These days Aramaic Christians have several organizations working on teaching the Syriac language and rehabilitating the Aramaic heritage.&nbsp;However, as you know, Lebanon today is a multicultural and multi-confessional country and four years ago it was declared by the United Nations as the Academy of the Civilizations Dialogue.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
	JP:&nbsp;Would you please&nbsp;describe to our readers the extensive control Hezbollah has on Lebanon?


	TN: Hezbollah is controlling the political and military decisions of all the Lebanese institutions by imposing its project, its ideology, and its will on all the official decisions.&nbsp;The Foreign Affairs Ministry is serving Hezbollah’s project and is reflecting Hezbollah’s will.&nbsp;As long as Lebanon is unable to form a government or elect a president against the will of Hezbollah, Lebanon is no longer sovereign. Hezbollah controls such crucial decisions as war and peace.&nbsp;Hezbollah protects the corrupt people inside and outside the government by virtue of its power.&nbsp;Hezbollah, as we know for fact, is not only a militia that follows Iran, it is in essence Iran in control of Lebanon.&nbsp;Hezbollah’s Secretary General&nbsp;has confirmed on several occasions that is, in fact, the case announcing that Iran’s funding, its weapons, and its orders come from Iran, and specifically from Ayatollah Khamenei.&nbsp;


	JP: Are the Saudis successful at countering Tehran's influence?&nbsp;


	TN:&nbsp;&nbsp;Lebanon, by virtue of receiving a constant flow of cash, sophisticated arms from Iran, and given the corrupt political figures who sold out, has provided Hezbollah with influence and power. Lebanon is therefore under direct Iranian occupation.&nbsp;This state of affairs is opposed by most of the Lebanese people, and it is imposed on them against their will.&nbsp;The Lebanese people are now going to the streets holding the Lebanese flags with one slogan written on the red area of the Lebanese flag, which is: "Iran out."&nbsp;


	Unfortunately, the Lebanese people will not be able to defeat the Iranian occupation alone. Hezbollah’s role of destabilizing the region will end up by transforming it to be a part of the Iranian Islamic Revolution.&nbsp;The Lebanese people are powerless to change that.&nbsp;It is the duty of the free world, and the friends of Lebanon everywhere, as well as the impacted countries, to form one front to defeat the Iranian occupation. We are seeing that the Lebanese people have been left to their destiny - to Hezbollah’s influence.&nbsp;Lebanon was abandoned by their supposed friends and allies including Saudi Arabia. We are watching the Arab world and the international community retreat, as if they are accepting the dominant role of Hezbollah, and not hearing all the voices asking for their help&nbsp;to be saved from the Iranian revolution.&nbsp;&nbsp;


	JP: The PLO triggered the Lebanese civil war, and Hamas is now seeking to open a new front against Israel in Southern Lebanon.&nbsp;How are the Lebanese Armed Forces and the government reacting to that?&nbsp;


	TN:&nbsp;Under the Iranian occupation all the terrorist groups in the Middle East including Hamas may find a safe haven in Lebanon, controlled by Hezbollah. Hamas has existed in the Palestinian Lebanese refugee camps for years now.&nbsp;Iran has decided to bring non-Lebanese militias into Lebanon, as well as train them. This policy is being implemented by Hezbollah, which is not only Iran’s proxy in Lebanon but throughout the world.&nbsp;And if you look at what is happening inside Lebanon you will find every Iranian militia and proxy such as the Houthis being facilitated.&nbsp;The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and many others are on Lebanese soil.&nbsp;The Lebanese government is being directed by Hezbollah, and it complies with its wishes and demands.&nbsp;When Hezbollah wishes it, the government will stop functioning, as we have seen lately. The Lebanese army, that we Lebanese respect and admire,&nbsp;acts according to the government’s decisions.&nbsp;That's why we believe that the army itself will never act without direct orders from the government. As long as we are under Iranian occupation the Lebanese army has its hands tied.&nbsp;


	JP:&nbsp;&nbsp;Many in the international community consider Lebanon a failed state. Do you agree with that description?&nbsp;


	TN:&nbsp;If you look at the definition and the requirements of the failed state as described by the rules and regulations of the United Nations (UN), you will discover in no time, and without any effort that Lebanon nowadays is a failed state.&nbsp;We actually held several conferences and have written several papers and memorandums asking the UN to declare Lebanon as a failed state and to take the proper legal actions based on this declaration. It seems, however, that for now, the free world and Lebanon’s friends haven't decided yet to take the responsibility for such a declaration.&nbsp;&nbsp;


	JP:&nbsp;In your estimations, what are the prospects for a peace treaty between Israel and Lebanon?&nbsp;


	TN: I believe that the Middle East is changing and that Lebanon may be a part of the Abraham Accords.&nbsp;Lebanon and Israel have to start by the full implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1701 including getting back to the 1949 agreement between Lebanon and Israel and finding a solution to the land border and the Maritime border demarcation.&nbsp;I believe that both people in Israel and Lebanon deserve to live in peace and prosperity as full sovereign nations.&nbsp;


	JP: How can the US and the free world help Lebanon?&nbsp;


	TN: The free world needs to listen to the daily cries, demonstrations, and sacrifices of the Lebanese people, and help them regain their sovereignty by supporting the Lebanese people in implementing the National Pact. The National Pact is based on Lebanon’s neutrality, through an international conference that would lead to: A) UNSC resolutions on Lebanon, B) Resolving the situation with the Palestinian and Syrian refugees, C) Economic reform, D) Fully monitoring and inspection of elections in Lebanon.

How the Free World Can Help Lebanon

Toni Nissi is an old friend and a proud Lebanese patriot.&nbsp;While being an engineer by profession, he has devoted his time and energy contributing to the

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